


Worth the fight

by Rohad



Category: The Owl House (Cartoon)
Genre: Blood, F/F, Fighting, Gay, Lumity, Magic, Medival/Knight AU, i like swords, though its gonna be different
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-12
Updated: 2021-03-06
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:20:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 28
Words: 146,570
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27517513
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rohad/pseuds/Rohad
Summary: All her life, Luz just wanted to be a knight. To do magic, and be respected for her abilities rather than looked down on for being human.A move to the Empire's capital of Bonesburough might finally give her what she wants; as well as something she didn't know she needed.
Relationships: Amity Blight/Luz Noceda
Comments: 707
Kudos: 1197





	1. Chapter 1

Trees, fields, and more, big surprise, more fields. Sometimes she spotted the occasional wild animal scampering through the grass, though that was the most interesting thing she’d seen so far. 

”Are we there yet?” Luz asked for the third time in an hour as she and Eda trudged along the dirt road they had been following for two days as it wound through the fields and forests of the countryside. 

“Do you see the city?” Eda asked as she glanced at her apprentice out of the corner of her eye. 

“No…”

“Then we’re not there yet!” Eda threw up her arms. “Kid, relax, we’ll get there when we get there. I know you’re tired, I’m tired, hell, King is tired.” She gestured to the demonic dire wolf trotting along beside them, tongue lolling out of his mouth. His black fur shined in the sun but was near blinding against the white fur on the top of his head that created a distinct skull-like pattern across the top of his face.

“Poor baby…,” Luz cooed as she reached out and scratched the space between his horns, making his tail wag.

“He’ll live….” Eda rolled her eyes. “...but you might not if you ask me if ‘we’re there yet’ one more time,” she grumbled, adjusting the light plate armor on her shoulders. It was the height of summer, and as used to traveling in the stuff as she was, she was still baking under the sweltering midday sun. 

Luz just pouted as they walked along. The leather of her boots was rubbing raw spots on the soles of her feet with each mile they walked.

Two days ago Eda had shaken her awake from where she and King had been lying curled up in a pile of hay. The seventeen-year-old had been half asleep and had missed most of what the older woman had been saying to her, just trying to keep her eyes open as Eda rambled on and shoved their meager belongings into an old rucksack. 

What she managed to glean from the rapid-paced, one-sided conversation was something about a job, money, and leaving town, which did catch her attention.

They had been to a lot of towns over the years she had been training under Eda, and some were definitely better than others in terms of how the locals treated humans, but the one they had been staying in for the last year was probably the worst of them all. It got to the point that when Eda went to meet potential clients for jobs, Luz had to stay behind because they would take one look at Luz trailing behind her and decide that no matter the older woman’s reputation with a blade, they didn’t want the human girl around. 

They’d see her rounded ears and sneer, glaring down their noses at her. Surely any self-respecting witch or sell-sword worth her salt wouldn’t be letting a human follow her around. Eda would say something snarky that almost always resulted in a near brawl, and Luz would stick her tongue out at them as Eda stomped away, grumbling colorful words under her breath.

Eda was on her side, but it eventually boiled down to being able to eat and Luz decided it was best to just stay behind, even though it meant she wouldn’t get much in the way of training in swordsmanship or the combat magic that went along with it, not that she could actually do the same kind of combat magic that was natural to witch’s anyway, being human. 

As Eda had once explained it to her, witches had an extra organ, a bile sac, she wasn't entirely sure that's what it was actually called, she learned a long time ago that Eda had a tendency to make things up if she didn't know the answer. Supposedly, it was an extra organ that allowed witches to absorb the natural magical energy of their world and use it to add powerful effects to items, especially weapons. Those that did were witch knights, the strongest and some of the most respected members of society, and Luz wanted so badly to be one, to prove that she was worth something, human or not. Though, without a bile sac, she was lacking the magical aspect, which left her at a distinct disadvantage. Heck, she didn’t even have a real sword. She couldn’t even do the most basic jobs to help Eda feed the three of them, King alone ate like a horse, with Luz trailing behind him. She was a growing girl after all! Eda always said she’d get one when she thought she was ready, not before; she’d been saying that for three years. 

She’d usually just use the dull-practice blade Eda had given her to work on her stances and strikes, beating the living tar out of whatever trees she happened to come across in the woods while she waited for her to come back with King trailing along behind her.

To say she was glad to be out of that town though was an understatement, even if Eda still hadn’t told her where they were going to go yet, and as glad as she was to have left the dreary little town of Beldville, she was so tired of walking!

She pulled at the collar of her violet-colored tunic, sweat was making it stick to her clammy skin, but she knew better than to say anything, they were both hot and tired.

They continued the silent trudge beneath the sun, which thankfully was slowly, but surely sinking closer and closer toward the horizon, though it didn’t lessen the heat any. Eventually, the sun had moved to dip just below the horizon, nearly blinding her with its bright orange and magenta rays. As it sank, dark blues were starting to rise up over the horizon line in response to the waning light.

Luz shielded her eyes with a hand and glanced into the distance. The dark smudge in the distance was slowly growing into the silhouettes of buildings and she grinned.

“Is that it?” she pointed excitedly toward the end of the road.

"Nope," Eda said, popping the 'p'.

"Whadda ya mean 'nope'?" Luz whined. "That's a town!"

"It's a town, and we're going to spend the night there, but that's not where we're going," she informed her and Luz groaned, shoulder slumping.

"Where ARE we going?" she huffed.

"Patience, apprentice." Eda wagged a finger and grinned at her, making Luz grumble. 

Eda always said that when she didn’t feel like explaining herself, which was often.

It was a small town, and although it was nearly dark there were still a number of people milling about the streets.

A few people glanced at her and Luz frowned, pulling up her hood to cover her distinctly rounded ears from view. There was no need to draw any unneeded trouble when they were only going to stay one night.

Eda noticed the motion but said nothing as she dug through a pouch on her belt.

"Here, Kid." She held her hand out to Luz, who held up her upturned palm as Eda dropped a handful of coins into it. "Go get yourself something to eat and I'll meet you back here at this inn." she hooked the thumb over her shoulder to the worn building behind her.

Luz broke out into a wide smile at the silver coins in her hand.

“Thanks, Eda!” She turned and dashed off down the road with King hot on her heels. Eda just smiled as she watched her disappear around the corner.

Luz trotted down the street, she didn’t know this place, but she knew most towns had pretty similar layouts and the market was always at the center of it all, and sure enough, she soon found herself walking through the market with King at her side, most people gave the cloaked girl and the demonic creature a wide breadth, understandably. Usually, creatures like King were wild, bloodthirsty monsters that would just as soon rip off your arm, and she’d seen him do it the last time she’d been attacked by a villager with a human problem. 

Luz had never feared him, he’s always just been Eda’s silent companion and her big baby ever since she’d started traveling with the gray-maned sell-sword. 

She reached over and scratched that certain spot behind his right ear that made him let out a low growl that almost sounded like a happy hum to her. 

“Hungry buddy?” she asked, smiling as they walked and he snorted.

There were days Luz was almost sure he understood every word she said. There was just a certain, almost intelligent look in his rusty, red-colored eyes when he looked at her. 

“Let’s get some food then!” 

She glanced around at the different shops and a few stalls before she took notice of one in particular and her eyes lit up. 

‘Tomes and manuscripts’

“Book shop!” Luz whispered excitedly to herself and made a beeline for it. “Wait here, King.” She turned to the beast, who snorted and plopped himself onto the ground outside the shop. She pushed the door open and grinned as the smell of ink and old parchment filled her nose.

Luz loved books, though she rarely had access to them. Having to carry everything you owned with you at all times meant that you just couldn’t have some things, and books were heavy and took up space that could be put to better use, for food or supplies; that’s what Eda said anyway. Luz would reluctantly admit she was right, but she didn’t have to like it!

“Welcome!” a voice called from her left. She looked over at the old witch peering at her over his spectacles at her. “Can I help you find anything?” 

“Uh, thank you, just looking.” she waved a hand.

He nodded and she walked down the many shelves packed with worn leather-bound tomes, grinning to herself as she ran her fingers over their spines, feeling the smooth, cool bindings beneath her fingertips. So many stories, knowledge, and wild adventures aplenty crammed between two hard leather covers. Luz adored books, a lifelong love affair lit aflame by her mother, who had taught her to read and write at a young age. Something uncommon among the lower classes of witches and unheard of for humans in the Empire of the Boiling Isles, who were the lowest class citizens of them all, or so she’d been told, but her mother hadn’t been from the Isles. She’d always told Luz about a beautiful place across the sea, with fine grain, white sand beaches, and tall trees very unlike the ones here, that dipped and swayed with the wind. Their leaves, long and few, but still perfect for blocking out the strong rays of sunlight on a clear day.

Luz sometimes wondered what it might actually be like to see it with her own eyes, she doubted she ever would, her mother had always told her it was far away and she’d left to escape a war, bringing only her native tongue and a sack of food, and Luz. Though, unknowingly at the time. 

Luz hummed to herself as she continued browsing up and down the dimly lit rows of books with rapt interest. She turned a corner and glimpsed a small table covered in old, worn books, and felt drawn to them.

They were all hefty tomes and she flipped through the first few on the stack, nothing of any real interest. Some play scripts, and something about treaties on the great war. She set them aside and picked up the last one in the stack. It had a dark brown cover with gold inlay around the corners and spine. It’s worn leather bindings were pockmarked with scratches and divots, some worse than others. She flipped it open and found some of the pages were yellowed and crinkled in places as though they had gotten wet and been left out in the sun to dry at some point. 

The pages were full of runic writing that she couldn’t even begin to guess at, but as she flipped through the pages she stopped on one with a drawing, a perfect circle with several lines that made up some kind of symbol.

There was very little text in the book that she understood but one set of runes did stand out, the symbols meaning ‘light’. She’d learned them years ago when her mother had told her that her name meant light. 

She ran a finger over the crisp, inked lines of the glyph.

They glowed.

“Augh!” she nearly tossed the book across the room, it clattered across the floor with a heavy thump and she grimaced as it landed on the wooden floor. She held her arms up in defense, but the book only continued to lie there., motionless. 

After a moment she quickly scooped it up and gazed at its gold bindings before she flipped it back open to the page with the illustration. She hesitated a moment, hand hovering over the illustration before pressing her fingers over it, skin running across the rough parchment beneath.

The lines began to give off a pale light as she traced them, till eventually, the entire thing was awash in the soft glimmering light. 

Luz stared at the glowing drawing with open awe and wonder.

“Magic…,” she breathed. 

She’d done magic, she wasn’t sure what kind or even what it was supposed to do, but for the first time in her life, magic!"

She needed to look through this, all of it.

"I'll be closing shop in a few minutes!" The shop keeps voice carried out through the store making Luz jerk.

A few minutes wasn't nearly enough time!  
Her mind raced with thoughts before she finally decided, and she slapped the book closed and hurried to the front counter where the shopkeep was still standing.

“How many snails for this book?” she set it on the counter and he eyed it for a moment.

"This? Bah, ten snails, it has little value to any witch, merely theories on old magic.”

"I'll take it!" She slapped half the money Eda had given her on the counter.

Only King would be eating tonight it seemed, but the chance at magic? Worth a hungry night.

He nodded and accepted the coins as he pushed the book back toward her, but as he did, he got a glimpse under her hood and spotted her rounded ears.

Luz knew what happened the second it happened. His brows crinkled between his eyes and his once, disarming smile, curled into a sneer.

"A human, in my shop!?" 

Luz snatched the book off the counter and bolted for the door.

"No take backs!" she squealed as she burst out the door, making King jump up as she did.

She dashed back the way they had come, the black beast loping along behind her with an excited, rumbling bark.

It didn't take long for them to get out of sight, turning the corner and ducking into an alley.

She pressed her back to the wall, clutching the book to her chest, and waited until it finally seemed like she wasn't being chased. She peeked her head out and found the street clear.

She turned back to look at the worn leather-bound book in her hands and grinned.

She couldn't wait to look at it better later.

King whined at her side, scratching at her with his paw.

"Ah, right, right. Let's get you some food, buddy." She smiled at him and snuck toward the other end of the market, spending the rest of the money Eda had given her to buy meat for the beast, who wolfed it down in record time; practically swallowed it whole before they made their way back to the Inn. 

"Get some grub?" Eda asked from her place sat on one of the beds when they walked into their rented room. King immediately trotted over to the empty bed and jumped up on it and curled up into a massive black ball of fur. 

"Fed King, yea." She nodded, pulling off her cloak and kicking off her boots before she climbed into bed, shoving King over to make room for herself. 

He growled at her but she just shoved harder till there was space for her to lay. He snorted in response but never lifted his head as she laid next to him, book in hand.

“What about you?” Eda narrowed her amber eyes at her, noticing how she only mentioned king. “And where’d you get the book?” 

“Uh…,” Luz stalled and Eda sighed.

You bought a book instead of eating, didn’t you?” It wasn’t really a question.

“Yeah…,” Luz mumbled and Eda sighed.

"Well, what was so much more important than eating? If it's another flowery love story, kid, I swear…," she trailed off, rolling her eyes.

"It's not!" she insisted. "It's a book about magic!" She flipped it open and opened to the diagram and ran her hands over it, creating the same glow as it had in the bookshop, which made Eda sit up.

"Well, look at that…" she tilted her head. "What's it do?" She looked back up at Luz.

"I'm… not sure yet…" She shrugged. “I need more time to read it," she said and Eda hummed, looking at the glowing glyph on the paper before shrugging and plopped back down on her bed.

“Whatever kid, just don’t stay up all night looking at it,” she grumbled, rolling over and pulling the blanket up over her head.

“You go it, teach!” Luz promised as she snuggled back against King and flipped through the pages. 

She really wished she could read any of the writing around it other than the runes for light. She flipped some more pages and found another diagram, a sketch of a sconce, or something similar with a circle drawn above it and little lines indicating rays of light. She hummed to herself.

She had only the basic knowledge of how Eda did magic. She could just kind of think about what kind of effect she wanted to apply to an object and would press her hand to the blade of her sword and it would glow for a second before taking effect. She’d made her show her enough times to know. 

Luz pursed her lips and leaned over to her satchel sitting on the floor by her bed and dug out a piece of charcoal she liked to use to draw with when they were on the road or she was waiting around on Eda. Ignoring the angry rumbling of her empty stomach, she pulled her training sword out of its sheath and looked at the blunt, reflective weapon for a long minute before carefully drawing out the glyph across the flat of the blade.

She glanced back and forth between the book and her blade, humming to herself when the last line was completed. She hesitated a second before pressing a fingertip to it and the lines glowed before the bright light spread across the entire length of the blade, lighting the room up.

Luz stared at it in awe, before a bright grin stretched across her face, empty stomach forgotten.

She’d done it.

She’d done magic!


	2. Chapter 2

Eda was shaking her awake before the sun was even really up the next morning and she groaned, burying her face into King’s fur. He growled at the hand and Eda rolled her eyes at the giant lump of fur and her equal lump of an apprentice, curled up together on the bed. If she didn’t know for a fact Luz was human she would swear she was some kind of demonic wolf the way King had taken to her when she’d first started traveling with them, like she was his pup, even though she treated him like he was her baby in turn. At least the two looked out for each other when she was out on jobs. 

“Both of you get up, we still have a lot of ground to cover before we make it to town,” she said as she strapped her belt with her sword tied to it around her waist. 

“I’m up…,” Luz’s groggy voice muffled out from King’s fur, but she didn’t move until King finally stood up, sending her dropping, face-first into the bed with a grumble as he stretched out like a cat before jumping off the bed. Luz groaned into the blankets before finally pushing herself up onto her elbows and blinked tiredly before letting out a jaw cracking yawn as she sat herself up. 

“Come on, if you wanna eat we need to get a move on, and I know you gotta be hungry,” Eda grunted, pulling on her own dark cloak. The moment she said it Luz’s stomach growled angrily and she grinned sheepishly at her.

“That’s what I thought,” Eda smirked. “Come on.” She waved, walking out the door, King trotting after her at the promise of food.

“Eda, wait for me!” Luz scrambled off the side of the bed and pulled on her sword belt and cloak as she hopped across the room, trying to pull on her boots with one hand and grab her book off the bedside table with the other at the same time. 

Eda waited for her downstairs, where she’d already ordered food.

She stuffed her face with as much dried meat and bread as she could in the inns’ main room before they headed out on the road just as the sun was beginning to peek over the horizon. 

Her feet were dragging through the dirt by mid-afternoon and it was all she could do to keep her eyes open. Even the overbearing rays of the summer sun overhead were only serving to help lull her to sleep despite their blistering heat. 

She’d stayed up much top late trying to decipher the intricate little runes that filled most of the pages in vain. Her knowledge of glyphs was less than beginner level, it was all but non-existent really. She could read, and write, and spoke two languages, but the tiny symbols witches used for denoting elements and the properties of magic had always escaped her, not that she really had anyone to teach her. Eda was a master at the practical side of magic, enchanting objects with power and then using them, but had never been big on the academic side of things, much to Luz’s dismay. 

“You’re the most skilled witch knight in all the Boiling Isles, how can you not know any runes?” Luz’s hands dropped, book slapping against the tops of her thighs in defeat.

“I don’t need that book stuff. Magic is wild and free you just have to feel it!” Eda threw her arms out, gesturing to the wide blue sky above them. 

“I literally can’t feel it, I don't have a bile sac.” Luz frowned and Eda blinked, bringing a hand back down to scratch her chin.

“Oh, right… Well, you got the book, right, you learned anything?” she cocked her head as she glanced at her and watched as Luz lit up.

“Most of it is in runes… but I did learn something, watch this!” She dug through one of her pouches and pulled out a piece of charcoal before unsheathing her practice sword and carefully drawing the small glyph on it, when she was satisfied with her work, she tapped it and the glyph burned away as the whole blade glowed with a bright incandescent light. 

Eda squinted against the light.

“You really did do magic…” 

“Yeah, a light enchantment!” Luz beamed at her mentor, still swinging around the glowing blade.

“Okay, okay, put that thing away before I go blind!” Eda shielded her eyes with her hand from the glaring light.

Luz sheathed the blade, smothering the light that would go out in due time when the energy of the glyph was exhausted. 

"Pretty neat, huh?" Luz grinned as she sheathed the blade.

"It's bright…," Eda rubbed her eyes with her fists, trying to clear away the spots she was still seeing. "...not sure how good it would be in an actual fight though…" 

"Well… maybe not… but it's still magic!" 

"The point of adding magical enchantments to weapons is to do more damage in attacks, or create barriers...or other... stuff," Eda trailed off, rolling a hand. “What you have is a metal torch…” 

“Well, what else is a dull blade good for? If I had a real sword maybe I could actually be useful,” Luz huffed, turning to look at the ocean sitting below the cliffside. At some point, the fields had given way to the shore and the far-stretching ocean. Eda frowned.

"You'll get a real sword when I decide you're ready, not before." Eda crossed her arms, they’d had this conversation before. 

"It's been five years, how am I not ready yet!?" Luz frowned, throwing up her hands in exasperation. Eda had been saying that for years. It had taken her two years just to get the training sword!

"Look, Luz, you tend to get carried away, and I just worry you'll rely on your sword to get you out of trouble before your brain. Show me that's not the case and you'll get your sword," Eda promised and Luz slumped.

“How am I supposed to do that?” she grumbled. Eda just shrugged and she sighed as they continued on down the road, the conversation was over. She contented herself with looking at her book and half falling asleep until she’d stumble, almost eating it before catching herself. The sun slowly, but surely dipped closer and closer toward the horizon, lighting the ocean on their left aglow with glaring reds and pinks. After the fifth time of almost watching Luz trip face-first into the dirt, Eda stopped them in the thick of the woods.

“We’re gonna make camp here for the night,” she declared. “You can barely keep your eyes open, you're gonna end up falling into a pit or something.”

Luz glanced around at the thick foliage around them. One of the first things Eda had taught her was to make camp in the open whenever possible, to avoid ambush or any creatures sneaking up on you in the dark. 

“Is it safe to camp here?”

“Eh, it’s fine, and we wouldn’t make it out of here before it got good and dark anyway, just don’t wander off into the forest and it’ll be fine.” Eda pulled her sack from her back. “Go gather up some wood and we can get the fire going.” She jerked her head to the edge of the forest just off the path.

“Sure” Luz shrugged off her pack and set down her book before trotting just into the treeline to pick up sticks. King trailed along behind her, her ever-present shadow, trying to snatch the bigger ones out of her hand.

“We’re not playing right now, King!” she grunted, trying to wrench the branch from between his massive jaws. “Let go!” she growled, and he did, sending her reeling back into the bushes with a yelp. 

“Ow,” she grumbled to herself before rolling out of the bush, leaves sticking out of her hair as she looked up to find King at her side, and then his large wet tongue was on her cheek.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m okay,” she laughed, pushing his furry head away as she pulled herself to her feet. She brushed herself off and started picking up all the sticks she’d dropped when a loud screech filled the twilight sky’s air, making a chill go up her spine and clutch the bundle of wood to her chest, brown eyes darting across the ever-darkening woods.

It had sounded far away...

Again the blood-chilling screech echoed across the forest and sent an eruption of good-bumps across her arms.

What was that? She’d never heard a sound like that before in her life and she had heard and seen quite a few things in the years she’d been traveling with Eda and King. 

“Luz!” Eda’s voice calling from just a few yards away jolted her out of her thoughts as she turned and jogged back toward camp with King at her side. 

“Did you hear that?” was the first thing out of her mouth as she dumped the wood into the ring of stones Eda made while she was gone.

Her mentor nodded, as she looked into the woods with narrowed amber eyes, hands planted on her hips. 

“Sounds like a cockatrice,” she hummed. 

A cockatrice.

Luz frowned, she’d read about them, and all manner of the other strange and deadly creatures that called the Boiling Isles home. Eda had also given her lessons about them. They were smaller than griffins and manticores, with scaled, winged, lizard-like bodies, covered in feathers, and had the head of a rooster. They were pretty ugly in the illustrations she'd seen. Eda had fought a number of them for jobs over the years, but she had never taken Luz with her on those jobs, only told her the stories after the fact. She’d never seen one with her own eyes. She wasn't sure what she imagined it would sound like, but that hadn’t been it.

“Should we do something?” Luz’s brows furrowed with concern, running a hand up and down her arm. “Kill it?” she asked. 

“Pfft, you mean, should I do something? And no, it sounds pretty far off, I wouldn’t worry about it… ‘sides, you’ve got a blunt training sword and you’ve learned one enchantment, Kid, and let’s be honest, not the most useful one either; so hold your horses.” 

Luz frowned at that, shoulders slumped, which made Eda sigh under her breath and she slapped a hand on her apprentice’s head.

“All in due time, Luz. Just trust me, okay?” 

Luz glanced up at Eda, who was looking at her questioningly and she sighed before nodding.

“Okay…” 

“Good, now, let’s get the fire started before the wolves come out,” Eda said, ruffling her hair with a grin before she walked over to the pile of wood Luz had collected.

“Please, no pack of wolves is a match for King!” Luz said, scratching his head. The great beast seemed to puff up at the praise, tail wagging as Luz scratched around the base of his horns.

“We don’t need wolf guts strewn out everywhere either, that would attract something else…” Another loud, distant screech filled the warm night air, sending a chill up Luz’s spine “...like that…,” Eda deadpanned.

“Did that sound closer than before?” It was hard to tell, it was still quite far off. 

A fire blazed to life, drawing her attention away from the darkening woods.

“A little fire will keep most things away, don’t worry,” Eda assured her

“I’m not worried, what would I be worried about?” She planted both hands on her hips, chest jutted out in defiance. 

The screech echoed over the trees, making her jump, and Eda snorted in laughter as Luz’s face turned red, shoulders bunched up around her ears. 

“It’s fine, Luz, now come sit down so we can eat,” Eda huffed, still grinning as she pulled their rations out of her own bag.

Luz plopped down into the dirt beside the fire, King at her side as Eda tossed her a dried chunk of meat, she wasted no time before she started gnawing on it while Eda tossed a chunk to King, who snapped it out of the air between his massive jaws before turning to nose Luz, whining.

“No, this is mine,” she leaned away from him, holding the dried meat just out of reach, but then he was practically crawling over her to get to it, stepping on her in the process. “No, King!” she yelped as he stuck his neck across her, tongue sticking out toward Luz’s dinner before she shoved the whole thing into her mouth and gave him a victorious look. 

Eda rolled her eyes at the both of them and chewed silently on her own food, keeping her ears pricked to the occasional screech of the creature in the distance.

~ ~   
The moon was high overhead when something woke her up.

She wasn't sure what woke her up, but all of a sudden, Luz was awake. Her eyes popped open and she glanced around from her place laying on the ground beside the fire. Her eyes flickered across their roadside camp. The fire was still crackling brightly and King was lying beside her, curled into a ball at her side. The light from the quarter moon overhead cast everything outside the light of the fire in a faint silvery glow.

Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, and she started to close her eyes again before she realized; Eda was gone.

She sprang up, knocking into King and making him jolt awake with a surprised, snort.

Eda was not lying nearby, or anywhere she could see, and that immediately worried Luz.

“Eda?” she called quietly, as she rubbed her fist against her eye, casting off the last bits of sleep still clinging to her consciousness. 

Only the quiet ambient sounds of the forest, crickets, and the rustling of leaves answer her back. 

“Eda?” she called again, climbing to her feet and stared out into the darkness beyond the light cast by the fire. 

Nothing answered her back, not a voice anyway.

Suddenly she could hear something in the distance, the rattling of bushes and the snapping of twigs and branches. She tensed, listening to the sounds as they seemed to move about the woods, crashing and smashing.

Then a loud, piercing screech. Much closer than it had been at sundown. 

“That the best you got?!” 

Luz knew that voice.

“Eda!” She scrambled to her feet and took off into the darkness of the trees, King jumped up and followed after her. 

She stumbled over roots and rocks, branches scratched at her face and arms as she rushed by them. She ran blindly through the woods towards the noises growing louder and louder; the sound of fighting. There's a dim light somewhere in front of her, a beacon in the all-encompassing blackness of the woods at night. 

She cleared the trees and skid to a stop in the dirt, eyes wide and mouth hanging open as a high-pitched squeaking sound forced its way out of her throat. 

Standing in front of her is a large, two-legged, draconic creature. Dark green, almost black in the darkness, and her noise of surprise had drawn its attention.

She knew the second it faces her what it is, with its large winged arms, tipped with three long talons and the large scaly head of a rooster. 

A cockatrice.

It looked at her, head cocked to the side in jerky motions as it examined her.

“Luz!?” 

Her eyes flickered to the voice and standing, back pressed against a tree is Eda, a dimly glowing lantern on her hip providing the only light other than the moon and her sword gripped in her right hand.

“Eda!” she yelped and the creature made a guttural hissing noise at her that stopped her cold, eyes going back to the creature, its pupilless yellow eyes stared into her and its wings twitched, as if about to take off at any moment. King was growling, deep and guttural, black fur standing on end and lips curled back over long, white, curved fangs. 

“Get out of here, now!” Eda yelled at her, but her legs were frozen, her muscles refused to move despite the bloodthirsty creature looming over her.

Eda scowled. Luz was frozen and she knew it. She jolted forward and hacked at the creature’s back left leg, sending a spray of blood across the grass. 

It made a loud screeching sound and whipped around to face Eda, its spiked tail slamming into the older woman and sent her slamming back against the tree.

“Eda!” 

Eda sucked in a sharp breath between her teeth, holding her sword out to keep the hissing beast at bay as it snapped it’s razor-sharp beak at her, looking for an opening as she pressed her free hand to her side where she’d been struck. 

Luz sucked in a breath when she saw the growing dark spot on Eda’s side that she cradled under her left hand; she was injured. 

She had to do something!

Her hand gripped the handle of her training sword tightly, isn't this what she'd been training with Eda for?

She unsheathed the blade in one swift motion and raised it overhead.

Maybe it's edges weren't sharp, but it had enough edge that when she brought it crashing down with all her strength she severed the spiked end of the creature's tail from its body, blood splattering the ground as the still wriggling appendage fell to the dirt. 

It spun to face Luz, eyes aglow and the blood-curdling squawk that erupted from its mouth at her made King spring forward with a roar, fangs sinking into the scaled hide of its neck with a squelching noise.

Its cries continued to pierce the air as it writhed, wings thrashing and body shaking until it flung the demon wolf loose, his body rolling across the ground with a hard thump before it turned its gaze to Luz, letting out another piercing shriek.

Luz screamed and bolted back into the woods, batting the branches away with her sword. She could hear it chasing her, it’s thundering steps beat against the ground as it ran, branches snapped and crunched under its feet.

Something, hot and sizzling, shot past her face, grazing her cheek, and it burned like fire! Her eyes watered and she stumbled for a second but quickly righted herself and kept running, heart pounding inside her chest.

Surely if not for the injury Eda had inflicted to its back leg and the tight quarters, it would already be tearing her apart by now.

She panted, zigzagging through the trees. She needed a plan, and quickly! What did she know about cockatrices’? She tried hard to remember Eda’s lessons, she can only remember bits and pieces at the moment.

They had acidic saliva, ate prey alive, and lived in dark places, caves, or other underground spaces, only coming out at night because of their incredibly sensitive night vision. 

“That’s it!” she huffed, she needed a minute though, somewhere, anywhere she could get just a few seconds.

She made a sharp turn, heading back for camp, the creature still hot on her heels. She could see the light from the fire and ran, breakneck straight for it, never breaking stride as she leaped over the flames, but as enraged as it was, the beast didn’t see them and ran straight through the campfire, sending up a cloud of sparks and embers, it’s oily feathered wings catching immediately. It let out wild, hissing cries. 

Luz slid to a stop, watching it a second before she shakily dug through one of her pouches as quickly as she could while the thing flailed and writhed, trying to put out the flames licking across it’s dark green and black feathers, what’s left of its tail whipped around. 

She tried to still her shaking hand as she grasped the piece of charcoal and drew out the glyph from her book, forcing her hand still, as the smell of burning feathers and flesh filled the camp, making her stomach churn; it needed to be perfect.

The cockatrice screeched, having finally put out the flames and Luz dropped the charcoal as she took off back into the forest, the monster's angry cries behind her, farther behind than before, but not far enough.

Ahead of her are some fallen trees. 

She drop slid under one, sitting propped up on a rock, and popped back up, barely breaking stride, even as she heard the cockatrice smash into the dense log as it tried to follow her in its blind rage, the heavy smacking and crunching sound told her all she needed to know as she bolted through the trees. 

Her heart was beating wildly in her ears as she burst from the treeline to find herself standing on a stretch of the cliff that jutted out over the ocean. 

She slid to a stop just a few feet from the edge and turned to face the forest, sword clasped in her hand. It took only a handful of seconds for the beast to come sprinting out of the brush, screeching as it barreled toward her at full speed, angrier than ever, and ready to melt her face off. 

Luz swallowed thickly, knees bent and body tense, waiting for the perfect moment.   
‘Close, closer… just a little closer… now!’.

She slapped her hand against the flat of the blade and the glyph glowed before the entire thing erupted in a blinding light. The beast screamed in pain as it was blinded, and running too fast to stop. Luz dove out of the way as it ran headfirst off the side of the cliff, crispy, near featherless wings, flapping helplessly as gravity took hold of it.

She panted, whole body trembling with adrenaline as she laid face first in the grass, a white-knuckled grip on her glowing blade, but a few moments passed and nothing happened. She slowly pushed herself up from the grass before she crawled over to the ledge and looked down.

Laying sprawled out in the sand far below, with ocean waves gently lapping at it, was the cockatrice’s lifeless body.

“I… I did it…,” she breathed as a grin slowly broke out across her face. “I killed it!” she whooped, pushing herself to her knees and threw up her fists, glowing sword still in hand before she gasped to herself.

“Eda!” She jumped up and ran quickly back to her mentor through the woods, glowing sword lightning her way, she found the witch making her way through the trees with King at her side.

“Eda!” Luz practically screamed as she ran up to the surprised witch. "Are you okay?" She looked her over, and there was a dark stain on her own dark red tunic, but not nearly as big as Luz had feared it had been.

"I'm fine, it just grazed me. Where is it?" Eda asked, looking around cautiously. Luz puffed up, chest jutted out 

"I killed it!" she proclaimed, holding up her still glowing training sword

"Wha- seriously!?" Eda blinked her wide amber eyes at her.

"Yeah!" Luz regaled her with the tale as they walked back to camp.

"You took out a cockatrice with a dull training blade and a light enchantment, color me impressed, Kid." Eda grinned at her and Luz beamed proudly at the praise as King laid his head across her lap while she scratched his head between his horns as they sat next to the fire. Luckily he wasn't really hurt either.

Eda hummed, leaning forward, eyes narrowed as she looked at Luz's face.

She reached up and touched her left cheek gently with her thumb, making Luz hiss with pain.

"Looks like it got you with its acid…," Eda mumbled. "That's definitely going to leave a scar.' she frowned, but Luz lit up further if it was possible.

"My first battle scar!" She cheered, throwing up a fist. King made a grumbling growling sound at the movement.

Eda blinked before chuckling to herself.

"Never change, Luz." Eda shook her head.


	3. Chapter 3

They decide not to stick around the dark, beast filled, woods after the cockatrice attack and quickly packed up and headed back out on the path toward their destination, it was still pitch black other than the faint light coming from the moon, but Luz's light enchantment lasted the rest of the night until the first rays of dawn begin to streak across the sky, lighting up the seemingly endless stretches of wheat fields. Something Eda silently finds odd. When a spell was cast, how long or powerful it was depended on how much magic the user put into it, but before this moment, Luz had never been able to do any magic, no matter how much she tried, so Eda wasn’t sure how Luz controls it, if at all, and if it was just random. She didn’t know what to expect from her apprentice anymore. 

Luz was tired, very tired, but she was still riding the remaining high of her very first monster-slaying, retaining just enough energy to keep her eyes open and her feet moving, but only just. It was an effort, but she somehow managed.

She could see the shadows of the city long before they reached it, the sun rising behind it cast long dark shadows across the fields and woods that surround its tall, stone walls.

The closer they get the wider Luz's eyes grew, along with Eda's smirk, as she watched her apprentice out of the corner of her eye.

It was much bigger than any of the other towns they had been to over the years. Its streets were paved with cobblestone and packed with people and vendors of all shapes and sizes, selling every kind of good Luz could imagine, and some she couldn't.

She stared in awe at the towering stone buildings all around her as they stopped in the center of the busy market.

“Welcome to the putrid, capital city of The Boiling Isles; Bonesburrough!” Eda held out a hand at everything.

"This is amazing!" Luz bounced excitedly on her toes and she looked around at all the hustle and bustle of the city's inhabitants. Very few people were even giving her distinctly rounded ears a second look as they made their way through the crowds, most people moving out of their way as King walked along beside them, looking almost bored at all the people that were quick to jump out of his path. "Are you finally going to tell me why we're here?" Luz looked up at her mentor, eyes full of questions.

"Oh, right, I got word that a bunch of prominent and rich noble families' need more hands guarding their shipments and things lately since the war seems to be ramping up. It's boring grunt work, but I was told that it pays exceptionally well," Eda explained as they moved through the market.

"Is that where we're going now?" Luz tilted her head questioningly.

"Nope, we're heading for the blacksmith's first," Eda said, grinning down at her. “It’s time.”

"Time for what?" Luz's eyes narrowed in confusion, making Eda chuckle as she looked down at Luz’s thoughtful expression.

"After what happened last night, I think you're finally ready for your own sword; a real sword." Eda can barely finish the sentence before Luz was making an excited, high-pitched, squealing noise that made King’s ear pin back flat against his head and Eda wince.

“I finally get my own sword!?” She was practically vibrating with giddy excitement. Eda slapped her hands on her shoulders to still her, the kid was making her tired with all her bouncing. All her exhaustion from last night has vanished in a puff of smoke. 

“Yes, Luz. You’re getting your own sword, but you gotta understand that means from this point on you’re gonna have to pull your own weight from here on out, make money and feed yourself, it’s time for you to start the next part of your training; experience. You're going to start taking and completing jobs, you can't buy your own food, you don't eat,” she explained seriously, but still Luz was beaming from ear to ear at the news and Eda rolled her eyes. They would need to revisit this discussion after Luz had calmed and was actually listening to her. "Come on, Kid." Eda waved a hand, beckoning her apprentice to follow. 

They could smell the smithy long before they could see it, though they could see the smoke that billowed from the open building even before that. King’s nose wrinkled at the odor. 

The forge was billowing red hot flames when they approached and a lone figure in a leather apron, gloves, and plate metal mask was standing over it, running a pole through the fire inside, turning over the blistering hot coals and causing a fresh wave of heat to blast into the air.

"As if it wasn't hot enough around here…," Eda grumbled and wiped at the sweat that had broken out across her brow.

The figure looked up from the flames and shut the heavy metal door on the furnace, sucking some of the heat out of the air. They stepped back and lifted up the metal mask.

A young woman, maybe just a few years older than Luz at the most, was grinning at them, with soot smudged cheeks and dark brown hair tied up in a bun. What immediately caught Luz’s attention was the metal hook pierced through her right earlobe.

“Welcome to Griffin Smithy, what can I do for ya?” she asked, looking between the two of them, her eyes lingered on Luz’s ears for a half a second longer before meeting her eyes, 

“Need a sword for my apprentice here,” Eda said, hooking a thumb at Luz who was again, grinning madly with excitement. 

‘Well, you came to the right place, come on back and I’ll show ya what we got.” The young woman nodded as she walked into the shop. Luz turned to Eda just in time to catch the bag of jingling silver coins Eda had thrown at her. 

“Go on, Luz.” Eda crossed her arms and jerked her head toward the shop. “His majesty and I are going to go get our stay at the Redstone inn figured out, meet us there when you're finished,” she grunted and Luz smiled, nodding as she followed the blacksmith into the shop, tying the bag to her belt.

“Oooh!” Luz’s eyes lit up. 

The walls were covered in all manner of weapons, many Luz was familiar with. Swords, maces, pikes and daggers, and some she couldn’t even guess at. Like the long wooden shaft with a large circle of metal at the end filled with spikes. 

“Neat…,” she hummed to herself as she moved around the room. “Oh!” She spotted something interesting from across the room and trotted over to the wall covered in hanging swords. In front of her was a sword longer than she was tall with a flamberge blade. Her face reflected back at her in the shiny polished metal. She grinned to herself as she wrapped her hands around the hilt and lifted it from its hangers. She grunted, muscles straining at the sudden weight. 

She did not expect it to be as heavy as it was and stumbled backward a few steps as the blade tipped back toward her dangerously. 

“Shit, shit, shit!” she wobbled precariously, nearly about to drop the blade back on herself, probably cleaving herself in two, before a leather-gloved hand snatched up the blade and gently took it from her hands and hung it back on the wall. 

“Maybe something a little smaller?” the young smith chuckled at her and Luz’s face flushed crimson but nodded. “Can I see what you got?” she held out her hands and Luz blinked before realizing she meant her training sword. She pulled it from its sheath and held it out to the other young woman, who hummed as she examined it.

“Training blade, huh?” she handed it back and nodded to herself. “Well if you want something similar, but with more bite, of course, one of these long swords would be good.” she gestured to a few weapons hanging on the wall, the sunlight coming through the shop windows bounced off their polished surfaces in a blinding glare. 

Luz hummed, tapping a finger to her chin as she examined the blades before finally pulling one off the wall. Its weight was solid but comfortable in her hands as she gripped the smooth, ebony-colored leather wrapped around the grip. The pommel was a distinctly shaped animal head. A wolf if she’d ever seen one. The silver guard flared out away from the grip in two straight bars, tripped with carefully rounded, curved points; fangs. 

She hefted the blade into starting position, elbows raised and blade perpendicular to her face before giving it a few swings and twists, jabbing an imaginary opponent as Eda had taught her. It felt good in her hands, and she tried to remain serious even as excitement was threatening to spill over, but she couldn't keep the grin off her face as she swung it around experimentally before finally lowering it back to her waist and running her fingers over the fuller of the blade. 

“You know, never get many humans around here, much less buying weapons,” the smith finally spoke up after watching Luz’s masterful, and graceful demonstration, a far cry from when she’d nearly dropped the zweihander on herself a few minutes ago. 

Luz’s shoulders seemed to hug her neck, as though willing her ears to become invisible. The young blacksmith was quick to notice. 

“Sorry, I didn’t mean anything by it, just doesn’t happen much… or ever, really. I’m Viney, by the way,” The blacksmith introduced herself with a grin and Luz felt herself relax at the easy smile. 

“Luz,” she returned the introduction. 

“New in town? I feel like I would have seen you around before,” she asked. Luz knew what she really meant. If they didn’t get any humans around here, she would be a sure standout in town, not something she was looking forward to. 

“Yeah, just got in this morning, we’re looking for work,” Luz explained. 

“Well, you came to the right place, Bonesburough is the largest port city in the Boiling Isles and as the farthest south, ever since the war started raging just across the sea, there's never a shortage of need for help carrying or protecting cargo around here with the Emperor’s men constantly coming and going, restocking and all that.” Viney crossed her arms and shrugged. 

That sounded like good news for her and Eda. Where there's fighting, there's money. Those were her mentor’s words anyway, it sounded boring though. 

“Well, I was hoping for something along the lines of monster-slaying maybe,” she admitted.

“Monster slaying? No offense, but you don’t exactly fit the description of most monster hunters I’ve known.” 

“Because I’m human?” Luz frowned.

“You’re tiny,” Viney said instead and Luz balked. She was fairly tall, but she was quite lean and lanky, at least it appeared so when she wore her cloak, but after five years of traveling and training with Eda, she was actually all lean and toned muscle, thank you very much. 

“I'm just lean!” she shrugged her cloak off her shoulders, letting it hang from her neck, and flexed both arms, making the much bulkier blacksmith laugh, but she was right, the human wasn’t nearly as stick-like as the cloak and baggy tunic had led her to believe. 

“I stand corrected, you gotta admit, when you almost dropped that zweihander on yourself it left room for doubt,” she chuckled.

“I just didn’t expect it to be that top-heavy…,” Luz grumbled as Viney grinned. “I got this fighting a cockatrice!” she proudly pointed to the still very new and raw skin that was definitely going to scar when it heals.

“No kiddin’?” Viney gazed at the painful-looking wound. “Well, if you’re looking for jobs slaying malicious creatures, the locals often hire and the job board in the town square usually has some stuff,” Vine informed her and Luz nodded.

“Thanks very much.” 

“So, what do you think about the sword?” Viney tilted her head and motioned to the longsword still gripped in one of Luz’s hands. 

“It’s perfectly balanced. How much?” Luz tried not to let how eager she was show, she’d learned the hard way how that often led to merchant’s jacking up the price on her; that and just because she was human. 

“Normally, with the extra detailing, I’d ask a little more for that one, but I’ll let it go for a hundred-fifty, a welcome to town discount.” The smith grinned at her and winked; Luz perked.

“Deal” she nodded and they made the exchange before Luz made her way out of the door, waving as Viney called at her back.

“Don’t be a stranger!” 

Luz walked proudly through the streets of Bonesburough, with her new blade fit snugly in its black and silver sheath, tied at her hip next to her old training blade. She wasn’t sure what she was going to do with that yet, but she finally felt like she was making progress. She had finally learned some form of magic and Eda had finally deemed her ready for a real sword. 

Now she just needed to meet back up with her mentor. 

She glanced around curiously. She had no idea where the inn was.

She sighed to herself, leave it to Eda to leave her alone in a strange new city with no instructions or even a general idea of what direction she should even be going. She really. Needed to learn to ask follow-up questions.

So much of the city looked the same, the general infrastructure anyway. Plain, gray stone walls and people moving in every direction around her in a symphony of noise; it was disorienting. 

She was so busy looking around at everything that she wasn’t paying attention when she turned a corner and ran headlong into someone coming out of a shop and sending them both tumbling to the ground. 

“Sorry, I’m sorry!” Luz was already apologizing as she scrambled to her feet, she turned to look at whoever she had just bowled over while not paying attention.

A young woman, her pointed ears giving her away as a witch, in a fancy magenta and gold-trimmed dress. She looked to be about her own age, with mint colored hair that hung just above her shoulders in a straight cut, longer sides pulled back in a short tail at the back of her head. Luz blinked, noticing the roots showing at the peak of her forehead, a bright bronzey auburn color. Her face was lean, with the sharp jaw and pointed chin that seemed to come standard on most aristocrats. 

Everything about her screamed ‘noble’, including the bright gold eyes currently glaring daggers at her from the ground and Luz, blinked at her, wide-eyed, finally realizing she was standing there, staring, like an idiot at a pretty noblewoman she had just barreled into.

"Let me help you." She held her hand out.

“Watch where you’re going, you half-wit!” she snarled, slapping Luz’s extended hand away and hauling herself to her feet. 

“I’m sorry, I wasn’t looking where I was going.” Luz grimaced as the other woman scowled at her.

“Obviously,” she bit out, dusting herself off and noticing the long rip in the skirt, and to Luz, it looked like someone had just told her something terrible by the way her face shifted to dread before quickly switching back to anger. “Look what you did!” she snapped, making Luz flinch back.

“I…,” Luz wasn’t sure what to say or how she could make this better. If anything her hesitation only seemed to make the woman in front of her angrier.

“Just get out of my way…” she shouldered past Luz without a second glance and disappeared into the crowd within a few seconds. Luz frowned as she disappeared.

She was off to a great start today it seemed. 

She glanced up at the shop the other woman had just come out of and was met with an old painted sign.

‘Park’s Herbs & Tonics’ 

An apothecary? As good a place as any to get directions she supposed.

She pushed open the door and stepped inside and was immediately hit by a strong medicinal smell that quickly made her stomach churn.

“Ugh…,” she groaned to herself. She knew these smells. She’d been injured enough over the years that they immediately conjured a reaction in her. 

“Welcome!” a cheery high pitched voice greeted her and her eyes zeroed in on a woman about her age, shorter, and a little rounder with short dark hair and dark green eyes behind a large pair of spectacles. “Can I help you with something?” she asked.

“Oh, uh, yeah…” Luz walked closer and the other girl’s eyes widened a fraction, but Luz noticed.

“You’re a human…,” she said it with a quiet fascination and Luz tensed. “We never get humans in here…,” she stops and Luz expects something else but she says nothing else about it. ‘What can I help you with?” She smiled and Luz relaxed some. 

“Oh, I…,” she started but was cut off.

“Your cheek right?” the bespectacled girl asked, pointing to her left cheek and Luz blinked.

“My cheek?” Luz reached up and winced as her fingers brushed over the raw acid burn from last night. “I guess I could use something for that, yeah.” 

“What happened.” The young apothecary asked, walking forward to better look at Luz’s face, adjusting her glasses. 

“Cockatrice acid.” she shrugged and the girl’s eyes widened before she cupped her chin in hand, looking thoughtful.

“I have an elixir I’ve been working on, it should scar that right up, but it’s untested… it could have a negative effect. If you want to volunteer, I’ll give it to you for free,” she offered.

“Hmm… free, but could melt my face off…,” Luz hummed thoughtfully. 

“Nothing quite so drastic… probably,” The other woman laughed.

“Let’s do it.” Luz nodded and the girl brightened.

“I’ll be right back!” she called as she turned and disappeared into the back. While she was gone Luz wanded around the shop looking at the many glass jars and bottles filled with liquids, dried plants, and fermented things of all kinds, some brightly colored and some like mud or swamp water.

She stared into a jar of murky clear liquid and an eyeball stared back at her from the brine. She leaned down to better look at it and blinked. It blinked back, making her jump and stumbled backward, nearly knocking over a shelf full of glassware. She grabbed it before anything could go careening to the floor and sighed in relief. 

“Here we are!” The woman returned and walked straight up to her, a jar of bright yellow liquid in one hand and a rag in the other.

“Are you ready… Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t even get your name!” 

“Luz Noceda.” she gave a little bow, arm at her waist and grinning.

“Willow Park,” she returned the greeting. “Ready?” 

“As I’ll ever be.” Luz shrugged and Willow popped the cork on the bottle and Luz wanted to gag at the smell but she held fast as Willow poured some of the elixir on the rag before she gently pressed it to Luz’s cheek, who hissed painfully as it burned her skin, but only for a moment and then the pain faded into a weird tingling in her skin.

The rag was pulled away and Willow looked at it before a smile broke out across her face.

“Did it work?” Luz questioned.

“Have a look!” Willow smiled and started to gesture to the small mirror she had sitting on the counter but Luz pulled her sword from its sheath, making her jump as she angled it to see herself in the polished blade. 

“Hey!” Luz grinned. Her raw, painful wound had scarred over near-instantly, creating a jagged scar that stretched from just to the left of her nose and across her cheek beneath her left eye nearly all the way back to her ear.

“Does it make me look dangerous?” She turned to Willow, brows raised in question. The apothecary laughed.

“That’s one word for it.” she nodded. 

“Thanks, Willow!” Luz beamed and the shorter girl grinned.

“It’s what we do and why you came.” 

“Actually… I was hoping to get directions to the RedStone inn,” Luz chuckled sheepishly. “But this is great too,” she assured. 

“Oh! Why didn’t you say so?” 

Luz left the shop with a healed face and directions for the city’s most popular inn.

It didn’t take her long to find the inn, nor the room Eda had rented for the three of them. King sat up as soon as she walked into the room, tail thumping loudly on the bed.

“Hey, you’re back, so, what’d you get?” Eda craned her neck around from the bed to try and spy the new sidearm tied to Luz’s waist, which she presented to her mentor with a grin and flourish.

Eda whistled as she inspected the brightly polished blade and expertly molded guard and pommel.

“I take it there's no money left…” Eda frowned, looking up at Luz from her place sitting on the bed.

Luz blinked, confused by that, and pulled the leather sack of coins from her waist.

“There's plenty of money left.” She tossed the bag to Eda who eyed its contents and frowned further.

“Did you steal this?”

“What?!” Luz guffawed, making King’s ear’s perk up and swivel in her direction. 

“Look, Kid, I know a good blade when I see one, and this is a four-hundred silver sword, easy, what did you pay for this?”

“One-fifty… Viney said she was giving me a ‘newcomer’ discount…,” she trailed off.

“Who?” Eda blinked.

“The Blacksmith!” 

“Oh, the girl…” Eda smirked and Luz frowned at it. “Sounds like you got the ‘blacksmith thought you were good-looking’ discount,” Eda cackled.

“No, she was just nice!” Luz flushed. 

“Sure, Kid, I’d never be nice enough to take that much money off a sword…I’m just sayin'…” Eda shrugged, laying back on the bed, arms folded behind her head and smirking to herself, eyes closed. 

“You’re not nice to most people…,” Luz reminded.

“Ha, got me there!” She peeled one eye open to look at Luz. “Either way, hope you're ready to use it. First thing tomorrow you're gonna head out there and start working, if you wanna eat and pay your share of this room that is.” 

“Ah, right, I got a tip on some jobs… So… are you done training me… am I on my own?” Luz looked at her frowning as she sat on her bed beside King. 

“Essentially…” Eda sat up, face turning serious. “I’ve taught you everything I can technique-wise, outside of magic. You’re going to have to figure that out on your own, but you got that book to help you with that.” 

“That’s true.” Luz nodded, fingering the hilt of her sword.

“If this is what you want to do Luz, you need to learn how to work independently, it can be lonely out there at times, so I’m not going anywhere just yet, we just got here and there’s money to be made! When I’m not out working I’ll be around to offer sagely advice, as always.” She grinned and Luz snorted. 

Eda gave advice alright, but Luz wasn’t sure she would categorize it as even remotely ‘sagely’. 

“So, rest up, Kid. The rest of your life starts tomorrow!” Eda grinned, slapping her back. 

“Right!” she flopped back on the bed, with King at her side and her fatigue from that morning came rushing back and before she knew it, she was out, curled up into a ball with King to keep her warm. Eda rolled her eyes at the two of them but grinned all the same.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Friends appear(and atm no so friend)! and they will appear again, as well as others, soon enough.


	4. Chapter 4

Early the next morning Luz quickly made her way from the inn to the town square with King trotting along at her side, allowing her to make her way through the crowds easily as people moved to get away from the furry, black beast. Luz rolled her eyes at the occasional witch who would practically dive out of the way at the sight of him, she was sure he seemed amused by it though. Her demonic companion just had a way of conveying himself that was easily translatable for Luz and Eda. She finished stuffing the last of her breakfast of bread and cheese into her mouth and tossed King the last scrap of dried meat as they walked, he caught it, teeth making a loud snapping noise as his jaws closed around it, making a couple of passerby's jump. 

Without ever actually talking about it, ownership of King had just sort of shifted to Luz, though Eda claimed she’d never owned him to begin with, he’d just started following her one day. He'd appeared one night, injured and one of his horns freshly snapped off and fell down at her fireside. Eda had tended to him and he’d just never gone away, just like Luz herself. The older knight seemed to have a way of collecting the hurt and hungry.

The sun had only just risen over the city walls, but already the streets were alive with noise and movement. People hocked things on every street corner, yelling to be heard over the crowds and the other vendors all trying to shout over each other. It was invigorating actually, the liveliness of it all, especially after the dreary little town of Beldville. That and the fact that she didn’t need to walk around with the hood of her cloak pulled up to cover her ears. No one seemed to even look at her twice as she walked around, they had places to be and stuff to do, no time to be needlessly condescending to her it seemed. 

She watched the people as they passed, the market was the obvious melting pot of the city, there were beggars lined along the streets, as there were in every city, but there were also common folk, dressed much like her and nobles, easily identifiable by their manner of dress, not fit to work in, and the way they walked around with their noses stuck up in the air.

What Luz didn't see, no matter where she looked, were humans, not that it was very odd. Luz couldn't remember the last time she'd run into a fellow human, maybe not since her mother had died seven years ago. They had lived away from everyone, human and witch, in a little shack on the edge of the woods, unbothered until…

Luz shook her head, casting away the thought, today was the start of a brand new chapter of her life, she wasn't going to dwell on painful memories today.

She straightened and forcefully shoved those memories to the farthest recesses of her mind and with renewed focus made her way to the center of the market, the jovial sounds of the people around her now sounded distant and muffled.

The job boards were easy enough to find, three tall, large wooden plaques on stands in the middle of the town square, sitting in front of a large fountain, with various pieces of parchment tacked to them, advertising people's need for labor. 

Luz pursed her lips as she looked at all the different jobs, her hope fell quickly as she scanned the papers

The job boards were filled with all kinds of tasks, deliveries, or pickups mostly, but a few odds and ends, such as finding someone's lost rooster or foraging for herbs in the woods. None of which interested Luz in the slightest. She was hoping for something a little more exciting, like fighting the cockatrice the other night had been, but the city seems to be rather lacking in beasts running amok at the moment. 

She reached up and scratched her new scar with a blunt nail as she thought about that wild adventure. She would be ready next time. She still needed to study her book when she had the time, but later; she focused on the boards.

It was mostly a lot of the same grunt work or manual labor. She frowned to herself as she looked over the many papers and even a few wanted posters with silver or even gold rewards, but that’s probably a little beyond her experience wise at this point, that was going to be a plan 'Z' right now.

She sighed to herself and pulled the slip of parchment out of her pocket, it had a guy's name and the name of a pub Eda had told her was down by the docks. He was supposedly the go-between for the noble families looking to hire and people looking for work.

She really hadn’t wanted to do that, but Eda gave her her last meal this morning, from this point on she had to make her own way or go hungry.

She’d officially graduated from apprenticeship to knight; though an unknown and inexperienced one with no reputation to carry her like Eda.

She sighed again and squared her shoulders as she turned to make her way down to the docks, it wasn’t exactly what she wanted, but she needed to eat and maybe if she did enough boring grunt work for some nobles she could save up to give herself a cushion so she wouldn’t need to worry about going hungry while looking for other work that was a little more like what she wanted.

‘Hexside’ is already full of patrons drinking the day away when she arrived. 

It didn’t take her long to find the pub in question, it was sitting right on the water and it looked like every other pub Luz had ever seen in her almost eighteen years. A large building with worn, sun-dried wood, and drunkards hanging around out front, looking for money to buy more of their liquid diet. She wrinkled her nose at the briny fish smell that filled the air of the docks as they walked up to the doors. 

“Wait here, Bud.” She scratched King’s head, leaving him sitting outside as she wedged her way into the dim watering hole and made a beeline for the bar. For being just after sun-up the place was already half full and reeked of alcohol and body odor. She would prefer the fishy smell of the docks. 

The barkeep gave her a sideways look as she sidled up to the bar, no doubt looking at her ears, she barely resisted rolling her eyes. 

“I’m looking for Morton?” she asked him uncertainly and he nodded toward the back, where a skinny guy in dark brown monk robes and a strange conical hat was sitting at a table, a pile of papers in front of him and a mug of mead in one hand.

She pushed her way through the bar toward the little table in the back.

“Morton?” she called and he looked up, tensing, eyes darting around.

“Who wants to know?” He was looking at her cautiously. 

“I’m Luz Noceda, I’m looking for work,” she explained.

“Oh, yeah, yeah, you’re Eda’s apprentice, right?” he asked and she nodded. “Yeah, she said you’d be by, I saved a job for ya.” He flipped through the papers and picked one up. “Guard duty for a noble family.” 

“Guard duty?” Luz slumped, disappointed as Morton looked back up at her. 

“Look, this is a well paying and relatively easy job, anyone I’ve seen today would kill for this, but I held it back for you as a favor to E, it’s also the only work I have left for the next couple of days, so take it or leave it.” 

Luz knew that she needed to work, even if it wasn’t exactly what she had in mind, it was work and thus, food in her mouth; that motivated her more than anything. 

“I’ll take it.” she took the paper being held out to her. 

“Good, the noble family are the Blight’s. A lot of their usual guards have been sent across the sea to fight in the war, they need to replace the ones that guard their manor, head over there now, that paper will get you in.”

“Thanks,” Luz nodded and turned to go, paper in hand. King jumped up and followed after her as she walked out the door.

“I guess a job is a job if we want to eat, right, Bud?” she looked down at the furry beast that stood as tall as her waist and patted his head. 

She had to stop and ask for directions a few times but finally found the large manor on the eastern side of the city, just outside the main walls on a large plot of land and surrounded by a tall, black, wrought iron fence. It was at least three stories and made of smooth almost white stone. 

"I guess this is it…," Luz spoke aloud, mostly to herself, but also to King.

A single guard, not much older than her stood outside the gate, looking bored, but he seemed to perk up as Luz approached.

“State your business.”

“I’m here to see… Hieronymus Bump?” Luz glanced at the paper in hand. Was she saying that name right?

The guard took the paper and looked it over before nodding and handing it back.

“Right, follow me.” He jerked his head and led them inside the gates to the manor doors.

“Stay here, King.” She held up a hand and the beast stayed where he was, sitting just outside the gate as she disappeared inside the manor. 

“Whoa…,” Luz mumbled to herself as they stepped inside. The reception area is large with smooth polished stone floors and a large staircase that led up to the second floor before it splits off to the left and right while the sconces that lined the walls glowed with fire that she can tell immediately wasn't natural but magic of some kind. 

The house seemed to be decorated in a dark green and burgundy color scheme. The banners that lined the walls feature both colors, with a serpentine creature that could be a dragon or maybe a malformed snake, twisted across the two fields of color and thorny vines wrapped around it. 

The rest of the house was just as lavishly decorated as the entryway and she looked around owlishly at everything as the guard led her down the halls before they finally stopped at a door and he knocked. 

“Yes?” a deep voice drifted through the door.

“A new recruit, sir.” 

“Send them in.”

The guard gestured to the door before walking away as Luz stepped inside, looking around.

It was a study, the walls are lined with bookshelves, fit too near bursting and a desk on the other side of the room, from which a man was sitting behind, looking at her with serious, teal eyes. 

“We don’t have all day, come in.” He motioned with a hand and she quickly scurried inside, closing the door behind her and moved to stand in front of the desk. The man was elderly and wearing some kind of creature over his head. Luz had to admit, for all the strange things she had seen over the years, that was a new one.

“Your papers?” he held out a wrinkled hand with long pointed nails. Luz handed over the parchment and he scanned it quickly. “You came for one of the guard positions?”

“I did... um, sir.” she nodded and he finally looked at her, really looked at her, and Luz swallowed thickly as his gaze lingered on her ears. Stupid, rounded ears!

“You are?” he questioned.

“Oh, Luz Noceda… sir!”

“I don’t suppose you have any qualifications?” He drummed his fingers impatiently across the polished wood of his desk.

“I’ve apprenticed for the last five years under Eda Clawthorne, the Owl Knight…,” she trailed off. Eda’s name usually garnered one of two reactions, contempt or reluctantly impressed. She was just that kind of person.

The man’s face turned thoughtful for a long moment, stroking his chin with a hand.

“You were Edalyn’s student, hmm?” His eyes narrowed. “I take that to mean she’s back in town…, just what we need,” he grumbled tiredly. “Very well, hopefully, you won’t cause half as much mayhem as Edalyn,” he grunted, standing and walking around the desk, hands folded behind his back. “I am Sir Hieronymus Bump, the steward of Blight Manor, I see to most affairs in Lord and Lady Blight’s stead as well as serve as a tutor to their children,” He introduced himself as he came to stand in front of Luz. “You will take your orders from me, or a member of the Blight family, and no one else, understood?”

“Uh, yes sir!” Luz saluted, back going ramrod straight and Bump nodded, pleased. 

“Let me outline your duties then, you will stay here, in the guard barracks six days of the week, night and day, to perform guard duty for the manor and family as needed…”

Luz mentally deflated at that, she would need to live here until this job was finished. Maybe this wasn’t the job for her. She was just about to voice as much when Bump continued on.

“Meals will be provided to you and every fortnight you will collect your pay of thirty silver a day from me.”

Luz almost choked on her spit at that. Thirty silver a day? That was… a lot of money, She could put a lot of money away for future adventures and she wouldn’t need to spend any of it on food.

“Understood?” Bump was looking at her with a considerate gaze and Luz nodded.

“I understand, sir.”

“Very well, go, collect your things and be back before sundown, I will give you your duties to commence first thing in the morning.” He turned and walked back to his desk at the dismissal.

Luz wasted no time disappearing out the door and back to the front door. King’s ears perked up when she approached, trotting across the yard and through the gate.

“Let’s go, Bud, we gotta tell Eda!” She grinned as they raced back through the city toward the Redstone inn. 

She couldn’t believe her luck, sure, it was a far cry from the exciting adventures of slaying monsters or hunting down bandits that she had envisioned, but it was a good place to start, for sure. 

Eda wasn’t there when they got to the Inn, which she should have expected, she was still out on a job no doubt, but Luz had time, she could wait for her mentor to return before she left.

She gathered up her meager possessions in a sack. Some spare clothes, her new magic book, and a small, wooden box that carried her most cherished possessions. She ran her fingers over the smooth wood and smiled to herself before she set it carefully in the bag. 

It didn’t take long before Eda returned, looking haggard from her day doing who even knew what.

Luz immediately launched into her story about the job, sparing no detail. Eda whistled.

“Thirty silver a day? That’s a lot of money to stand around looking like you’re busy. This must be one rich family,” Eda hummed, rubbing her chin thoughtfully.

“I’m not going to help you rob them…” Luz frowned, already knowing by the look on Eda’s face what she was thinking. 

“You’re no fun,” Eda grumbled, leaning back on the bed, and crossing her arms. “Good job, Kid. You’ll be great.” She grinned. 

“Thanks…” she smiled but Eda could see the unsure look on her face and her voice lacked its usual amount of pep. 

“What’s the matter?” she cocked her head. Luz shrugged, making a face.

“I guess it just feels real now, we’re not gonna be traveling or staying together anymore, I’m going off on my own… I’m not your apprentice anymore… I’m going to miss you,” she admitted, looking at Eda, eyes glazing over. 

“You’re such a sap,” Eda huffed but smiled as she stood from the bed to stand in front of Luz. “No, we won’t. You’re as ready as you’re ever going to be, you just need experience, and you’re not going to get it following me around, but hey, I think I’m gonna stay in town for some time, so as I said, I’ll be around if you need any advice or just miss this lovely face.” She batted her eyes, making Luz snort. Eda slapped a hand atop Luz’s head, even though she was just as tall as her now, a far cry from when they first met five years ago and ruffled her hair. Luz grinned as she did. “But yeah, I’ll miss seeing you every day too, Luz.” 

Without warning, Luz threw her arms around the older witch and squeezed, and for once, Eda didn’t complain about the hug, just squeezed her back for a moment before pushing her back to arm's length.

“Alright, alright, that’s enough affection, you got places to be and it isn’t here being emotional all over me,” Eda smirked, planting a hand on her hip.

“Right!” Luz picked her sack up off the bed and tossed it over her shoulder.

“Don’t forget that one.” Eda jerked her thumb at King, laying sprawled out on her bed without a care in the world. Luz nodded and stuck two fingers in her mouth, giving off a high pitched whistle that made King shoot up off the bed and hop to her side. Eda reached out and scratched the spot between his horns.

“You take care of her, furball.” 

King seemed to huff in response, but his eyes narrowed pleasurably as she scratched his head.

“Now get outta here, we’ll see each other again before you know it.” She smiled and Luz nodded, smiling back before she turned and walked toward the door but stopped short of stepping out to look over her shoulder at her now, once mentor.

“Thanks for everything, Eda. I don’t know where I would be if you hadn’t picked me up…”

The older witch looked at her fondly

“You’d have been okay, and I’ll see you around.” She waved a hand and Luz smiled before she stepped out of the room, closing the door behind her. She sighed and straightened up as she turned to King.

"Okay Bud, it's you and me against the world, a woman and her demon wolf!" 

King let out a deafening bark in response.

"Get out of here already!" Eda's voice called through the door. 

Luz laughed to herself as they trotted down the hall and out of the inn.


	5. Chapter 5

Luz was, in a word; bored.

Horribly, terribly, wanted to die, bored. She had resorted to playing with the strands of the black tunic she’s been given to wear that bore the Blight family insignia on its shoulder and watching the occasional person walk by on the dirt road heading into the walls of the city proper. Sometimes she played a little game with herself, trying to spot a certain number of the same bird before someone walked by again. It was all horribly dull, really. 

She has to keep reminding herself, thirty silver a day, plus meals and a place to live.

Though, that last part was more of a negative in some ways.

The guard barracks were full of other witches, including those who had worked for the Blight’s for years, if not generations, and it didn’t take Luz more than two hours that first night to figure out she wasn’t wanted here, King either, by the new guards for hire just like her, or the old guards. They all give her less than friendly looks, and honestly, she’s afraid to go to sleep with all the dirty looks she got. Instead, she grabbed her sack of belongings and the two wandered around the manor grounds a while before she found herself in the stables. There were a few horses and even a couple of griffins and a hippogriff inside. She found an empty stall and plopped herself down into a clean pile of hay, with King curled up at her side, luckily, it’s summer, so she won’t get cold, and there's even a slight breeze she wouldn’t get inside the barracks. Despite that though, and how used to it she is, it still stings a bit; to be so wholly rejected. They don’t know her, but they don’t want to either; knowing she’s human is all they need to know it seemed. 

After five years of only having King and Eda, as much as she loved them both, she ached for companionship. Friends, and maybe something more than that someday, but more than anything she wished to have friends to talk to, who unlike King, could at least talk back, though she was sure he did his best. They sleep in a scratchy, prickly, but clean, pile of hay in the empty stable stall, curled up together. 

It was two days into her career as a guard for hire for the Blight family, and she was starting to wonder if maybe it wouldn’t have been better to run deliveries around town or find that lost rooster even.

She rarely saw anyone all day, and she’d yet to see even a hair of Lord or Lady Blight, though from what her fellow front gate guard, Jerbo told her, it was better off that way. The Blight’s were apparently quite prominent and wealthy, as well as cold and distant from what they say. At least she had Jerbo to talk to. A nice, if nervous fellow. 

Probably better to avoid the entire Blight family for the duration of her stay if it was possible. 

Which may not be very long if she continued to be bored to death for much longer. 

She sighed to herself, leaning heavily on the pike she’d been given for when she attended gate duty and looked around the manor grounds for anything that might catch her interest, and surprisingly, she found something.

“Hey,” She nudged Jerbo in the ribs, waking him from his standing nap.

“Huh, wha-?” He blinked, wiping the drool off his chin as he looked around, half expecting Sir Bump or for them to be under attack. 

“Who's that?” she nodded and he looked across the manor grounds toward the pond, surrounded by trees that peeked around from the back of the house. It was manicured to be quite picturesque with a carved stone bench sitting waterside.

Sitting on the bench beside the water was a familiar-looking woman with almost shoulder-length, bright, mint-colored hair.

“Ooh, that’s Amity Blight,” Jerbo whispered quietly to her. “The youngest of the three Blight children.” 

Luz grimaced at that. The noble she had barreled into the other day was her superior… perfect.

“You okay?” Jerbo asked, seeing her dark skin suddenly go pale.

“Yeah, fine!” she yelped, voice pitching with a slight crack. She cleared her throat. “I’m fine, totally fine,” she assured.

“If you say so…” Jerbo nodded but was still giving her a strange look before he turned back to face the road, and started to nod off again soon after.

Luz watched the youngest Blight sibling sit by the pond for at least an hour, hardly moving, she just seemed to be staring forlornly into the water. Luz tilted her head curiously, she looked rather sad, sitting there by herself staring into the pond. Did she not have anything else to do or anywhere to be?

Before she could think about it further, Amity happened to look up and they locked eyes. The other woman looked confused, puzzled really, as though trying to remember where she’s seen Luz before and Luz swallowed, hard, as sudden realization sparked across Amity’s face and she scowled as she shot up from the bench, dress swishing angrily as she made her way over.

“Uh-oh…,” Luz mumbled to herself as the noble quickly crossed the manor grounds on a direct collision course with her. 

“You!” she all but shouted, pointing a finger at Luz when she’s within arm's reach. Jerbo jerked back awake and was looking between the two of them, unsure what was going on or what to do. 

“Uh… Good afternoon to you, Lady Blight…?” Luz tried to be polite and diplomatic in the face of the angry noble.

“What are you doing here!?” she demanded, sneering up at Luz, who stood a good, five inches taller than the noble. She was not exactly sure what she should say, maybe she could just play dumb and pretend she hadn’t knocked her down and torn her dress the other day.

“Guarding the gate…?” 

Too dumb, she decided when Amity’s frown only deepened. 

It was Jerbo that came to her aid, still unsure of what was going on.

“Beg your pardon, Lady Blight, but this is the newest guard recruit,” he introduced her.

Luz decided to just swallow the bite she’d taken in this situation. 

“Um, right, I’m sorry about the other day, I wasn’t looking where I was going, I’m Luz.” she held out a hand, which Amity looked at disdainfully before turning up her nose and crossing her arms.

“Put that away,” she scoffed. “You got me in trouble with Sir Bump,” she accused, scowling. “And I never get in trouble.

“How did I get you in trouble with Sir Bump?” She blinked at that, she hadn’t even met Bump till after she’d bumped into Amity. Amity scowled at that, that she doesn’t have a clue what she did.

“If you hadn’t run into me Bump wouldn’t have…!” she started, sneering, but stopped short, mouth snapping shut with a click. “I don’t need to explain myself to you, you’re a servant,” she huffed, turning her head away. 

Luz bristled at the comment, her grip on the pike tightening. She had to bite her lip to keep from spitting out something that was sure to get her thrown off the manor grounds, and settled for scowling down at her. Amity could tell if the little smirk that pulled at her lips was anything to go by.

Before she can say anything more Bump appeared in the manor doorway and spotted her and he began to make his way over.

“Good afternoon, Lady Blight.” The older witch nodded, arms clasped behind his back as he stopped in front of them.

“Sir Bump,” Amity nodded to the man. “I’m glad you’re here, I was hoping I could go to the archives, to study," she asked, completely ignoring Luz's presence now that the steward was here.

“You may go...,” he started, and Amity broke into a smile, until, “...so long as a guard accompanies you,” he finished and her smile fell.

“Sir, I’m more than capable of…,” she started but Bump held up a hand to stop her. 

“Lord Blight’s orders were clear, perhaps I was willing to turn a blind eye for you before, being the more responsible of your siblings, but after the other day, I can not take the risk of you being hurt,” he said with finality and Amity’s shoulders slumped.

Bump looked over to Luz, still standing there looking at them.

“Luz, accompany Lady Blight to the archives in town,” 

Luz was still stewing in her anger, but an order was an order and she gave a jerk of a nod, trying not to glare at anyone in particular.

“Ugh, anyone but her…,” Amity grumbled and Bump frowned. 

“If this guard does not suffice then perhaps you simply do not need to visit the archives that badly?” he cocked a brow at her, the tone was clear. Luz or nothing.

“She’ll suffice,” Amity nearly gritted out and Bump nodded before turning back toward the manor.

“Very good, be back before supper, Amity,” he said as he walked away.

“Let’s go,” Amity bit out as she stalked past Luz and Jerbo, out of the gates.

Luz scowled at her turned back as Jerbo took her pike.

“Good luck,” he mumbled to her as she followed, grumbling under her breath.

She stayed a few feet behind the noble as they made their way through the city toward the archives, one hand swinging at her side and the other resting on the pommel of her sword as she walked, fingering the intricate details of the wolf head pommel, calming herself. When she got the chance she’d need to talk to Viney about it, maybe pay her some more. 

She’d been hoping for a change of scenery, but escorting a spoiled noble through town wasn’t exactly what she’d had in mind.

She was still fuming about being called a servant. This was a job she had agreed to take for compensation, not because she had to because she was bound to Blight manner like a serf. She was a knight damnit!

Well, an unknown one, but she’d done her time as an apprentice!

She was still steaming when they arrived at the archives but it quickly evaporated the moment they stepped inside and the smell of parchment, ink, and leather filled her senses.

Books upon books filled the place, nearly stacked up to the ceiling. Sure, she knew what an archive was, but she’d been so busy frothing over what Amity had said she hadn't really thought about it until this moment.

She wanted to read all of them.

She'd broken out of her daydreaming as Amity spun on heel to look at her.

"I don't need an escort, especially not you, so just stay here until I'm done." She didn't even wait for a response before she turned and walked off into the archives. Luz stuck her tongue out at her treating back and once the noblewomen was gone she grinned to herself and darted off into the stacks.

Sure, she was supposed to be working, but Bump said she took her orders from him or a member of the Blight family, and Amity was very clear when she said not to bother her. She was only doing as she was told, never mind the fact that Bump was above Amity in actuality it seemed.

How quickly books could turn her mood around. She picked through the shelves for a good half hour, some of them were quite interesting, a few were fanciful, romantic, adventures, like the tale of ‘Azura, the Good Knight’, which she grabbed, despite the fact she had read it many times, but most are manuscripts, intricate recipes for elixirs or how to enchant certain objects for wards and barriers.

True, a lot of the books are written in runic, but a number of them aren't, they're the ones she's really interested in, naturally, and she collected a small stack she planned to borrow from the archives. 

She wondered if she could find a book that could teach her to read runes.

She turned a corner and ran straight into someone.

Books clattered against the wooden floor and she squeezed her eyes shut, hoping against all hope that she hadn’t run into Amity, again.

“Ow…” 

That wasn’t Amity’s voice. Luz opened her eyes and came face to face with a boy, a bit younger than her and he’s darker than her, with closely cropped black hair and wearing a pale blue tunic and black pants. 

“I’m sorry!” two voices rang out at the same time and they sat there, looking at each other for a second before both broke into chuckles. 

“No, it was my fault,” he said, quickly scrambling to his feet and scooping up her books as he did.

"No, I wasn't paying attention, I seem to be doing that a lot lately…” she scratched the back of her head sheepishly as she accepted the books back from him. 

“We’ll just call it an accident.” He grinned, looking up at her, but the moment his gaze landed on her ears, they grew to the size of dinner plates and his mouth hung open in a little ‘O’. “Are you a human?” he asked after a few long, awkward seconds of staring up at Luz with silent amazement.

“Uh… yeah?” Luz isn’t sure how to respond, she’d been asked that question, she doesn’t know how many times, but usually with disdain or disgust, not the open wonder that seems to drip from the boy’s words and especially not the drawn-out gasp that he let out at her answer.

“Amazing, I've never seen a real, live human before!” He grinned, reaching up and running his hands over his own pointed ears if for no other reason than something to do with his hands to expel all the sudden energy Luz can see pulsing behind his eyes.

“Uh…” She’s not sure what to say, especially if he kept looking at her like that, which he luckily, seemed to notice.

“Oh, sorry, I’m Augustus Porter.” He stuck out his hand. 

“Luz Noceda,” She nodded, taking it. “I met an Augustus once, I just called him Gus.” she shrugged and Augustus gasped before breaking into a grin.

“Human nickname? Yes, call me Gus!” He practically bounced with excitement.

“Sure,” Luz chuckled at the boy, but then had a thought. “You’ve never seen another human?” she cocked her head as he shook his head. 

“No, I know there used to be a lot, but it’s been decades since they’ve been around, none of my friends have ever seen one either…,” he explained. Luz frowned at that. What did that mean?  
But then Gus tapped a finger to his chin. “I thought you’d have gills,” he admitted. 

“No… but that would great!” She grinned and he laughed. 

“I noticed your books seem to be from the Magiaology section of the archives, brushing up on your magical theory?” he asked.

“Trying to learn magic actually. Humans don’t have bile sacs, so I can’t absorb the natural magic of the world like you can, but if I wanna be any good as a knight, I need to be able to perform enchantments.”

“Humans don’t have bile sacs? Fascinating,” he mumbled when Luz shook her head. “You want to be a knight? That’s really cool.” Gus grinned.

“Yeah! I just finished my training with Eda Clawthorne for the last five years.” Luz puffed up proudly.

“Eda? Like, the rogue Owl Knight Edalyn Clawthorne?” Gus blinked up at her in amazement.

“Yup!” 

“Whoa… does she eat people like they say?” he whispered, leaning in close.

“Uh, no…” She frowned, shaking her head.

“That’s kind of disappointing... but probably for the best… well, if you need help finding any materials let me know, I’m an apprentice archivist, I know this place like the back of my hand!” 

“Are there any books for learning to read runes?” she asked and Gus’s face erupted in a grin.

“Of course, this way!” He quickly led her down another aisle of books.

~ ~ ~  
Amity was, in a word, annoyed, and has been for two solid days now.

Her parents had been gone for the last four days on business and normally, when they were away the three blight siblings were confined to the manor grounds unless escorted, to keep them ‘safe’ in their parents' words, though mostly to ensure that they did nothing to embarrass them while they’re gone.

As the most responsible and level-headed of her siblings she had managed to get Sir Bump to turn a willfully blind eye to her leaving the manner to go to the market unattended… until some bumbling commoner had barreled straight into her, ripping her dress and scraping her knee.

She tried to sneak by him, but he'd been waiting for her when she returned to Blight Manor, and upon seeing the state she was in, revoked her privilege of leaving the grounds by herself.

Then her siblings had been a pain in her hindquarters the rest of the time, they were bored, and pulling pranks on her was their form of entertainment. That and constantly interrupting her studying, even though there wasn't much left she could study. 

She was well-practiced in the art of enchanting and most other fields of magical academics, but what Amity wanted to learn more than anything, was swordplay.

Something that couldn't really be learned from a book, and what little could, she already had, which was to say, the names of different maneuvers and footwork patterns, nothing tangible or truly useful.

Then when she couldn't stand the twins for another minute she'd escaped to the pond that was behind the manor, just below her bedroom window. 

It was a quiet place, where she could just go and think, be by herself, unbothered.

She wasn't sure how long she had sat there for but then she happened to look up and lock eyes with one of the gate guards.

A familiar-looking young woman with a tell-tale scar, stretching across her left cheek beneath her eye.

The commoner that had run into her and gotten her confined to the manor until her parents returned.

She was standing and moving across the grounds in a beeline for her before she even realized it, taking great pleasure in the nervous look that flickered across the other woman's face. The dressing down she gave her Amity felt was well deserved, and she could see the nerve she'd struck after she called her a servant in the way the sharp cut of her jaw tightened and she bit her lip to keep herself from saying something they both knew she’d regret. 

She was certain she’d gotten her point across to the new guard and decided nothing more needed to be said to her, and when Bump appeared she put her out of her mind.

Until Bump told her that the only way she was leaving the manor grounds was if she was accompanied but this 'Luz'. 

He was not budging and she knew she was not going to win, so she swallowed her pride and agreed, but she wasn’t happy about it.

She stewed about having her tag along as they made their way to the archives and tried to forget that the guard was following a few feet behind her.

She didn't need to have anyone watching over her shoulder. If her parents had just allowed her to take training lessons with Lady Lilith before she left to fight in the war, she wouldn't need anyone following her around like a guard dog.

Her jaw clenched. She was not helpless and could be even more prepared if they would allow it.

She ditched the guard at the doors before heading for the section of the archives that housed a few volumes about swordplay. She'd read most of them, but it never hurt to review.

She was annoyed even more now because she couldn't find the damn woman, she wasn't at the front of the building where she told me to wait, so now she was wandering around the archives because she couldn't show back up to Blight Manor without her escort, Bump would have a fit.

"Where is that…," she grumbled to herself but stopped as she spotted the familiar head of short, dark hair she was looking for, standing in one of the aisles, several books under one arm and another open in her hand that held all of her attention hostage, brows furrowed between her eyes in intense concentration as she flipped the pages. 

That surprised Amity.

Most of the guardsmen that have worked at her family's estate over the years have never been the most scholarly types. More the kind whose every off day was spent near-drowning themselves at Hexside in cheap ale and hung over the next morning as they sluggish attended their duties. 

Most of them couldn't read anyway, so surprised was definitely the mild way of putting it.

She wasn't aware she'd made any noise, but suddenly she realized Luz was looking up at her. The guard’s faces turned sour as they locked eyes.

"What?" Luz didn't mean to ask the question with as much attitude as it came out, technically Amity was her superior and the last thing she wanted to do was be dismissed from her position, as much as she didn’t care for it. It was steady money and a place to sleep. 

Amity was, again, surprised and answered more out of shock than any real desire to answer the snappy question.

"I didn't realize you could read…," it still came out with a haughty air to it though that made Luz's frown deepen.

"I realize I'm a human and a commoner…," she bit out. "but yes, I can read, and write," she grumbled.

"You're human…," Amity mumbled to herself, finally seeing the other woman's ears, lacking a distinct point.

Amity prided herself on her observation skills, among other things, but she'd been so aggravated by the woman in front of her that she had never even noticed her ears until this moment.

"I didn't realize you were human till just now…," she hummed thoughtfully. She'd heard about humans, all witches had, and how they used to be quite prolific on the Isles, but most people couldn’t remember the last time they saw one, till now it seemed.

"You didn't realize…!?" Luz started, looking startled. "Then why have you been such a bitch to me?" 

She hadn't meant to say that out loud, honestly, she'd just been so surprised. Usually, her ears were the first thing people notice about her. She had assumed that was why Amity had been so cold and hostile to her, it wasn't like it would be the first time it had happened.

Amity blinked at her in surprise, but that surprise didn't last long and quickly morphed into a sneer, sharp, gold eyes narrowed and her cheeks turned red.

"You… filthy, cretin!" she snapped angrily. "My behavior is because you are a graceless moron who doesn’t watch where she’s going!" she snarled and Luz scowled back, taking a step forward to lean over Amity, who didn't move, just defiantly looked up at her, face set in a sneer. 

“I told you I was sorry, it was an accident!” She snapped back.

“Sorry doesn’t get my privileges back from Bump!” she barked. 

“All you have is privileges!” Luz growled.

“You don’t know me!” Amity snarled, gritting her teeth and face turning hot with anger. 

“I know you’re probably like every other noble I’ve ever known, looking down your nose at me. I’m sorry the world can’t revolve around a spoiled brat like you all the time, so get over it!” 

The slapping sound echoed through the aisle along with the clattering of books hitting the floor.

Luz blinked in bewilderment, head now turned to the side and cheek stinging from where Amity’s hand had made contact with her face. It took her a handful of seconds to realize what had happened. 

She scowled as her head whipped back to face Amity, face contorted with anger, and bowed up to full height over the noblewomen. 

Amity's scowl remained, even in the face of the furious, dark look that had settled on Luz's face. She loomed over her, and fear, cold and hard settled in the pit of her stomach that Luz was about to strike her back as she tensed up, hands balled into fists, but she didn't.

Luz wanted so badly to strike back, but there were two voices in the back of her head that stilled her hand.

One was the main character of her favorite novel, Azura, the good knight, whose crux of her character was to never use force against an opponent who couldn't fight back, and who had been Luz's first inspiration to becoming a knight as a child.

The second was Eda's, repeating her dire warning about striking out in anger. A lesson she had learned hard once already and had no interest in repeating.

She took a deep shaky breath, ignoring the stinging pain in her right cheek, and reached down to pick up her books. 

Amity could only blink in confusion as Luz said and did nothing in retaliation. It would be easy to do so. As much as she wished she was, Amity was no fighter, and she can tell just by the litany of small scars on Luz's hands, chin, and cheeks that she is, but she didn't lift a finger against her.

She only collected her books and then turned and walked toward the archives entrance.

Amity didn't know what else to do but follow, much as she doesn't want to. She couldn’t return to the manor alone. 

They say nothing to each other, don't even so much as look at each other as they walked back through the city toward Blight Manor.

Luz was still seething inside, clutching her books tightly as they walked and trying to calm the uncharacteristic rage churning in her stomach.

She was definitely out of a job after this, but if this was how it was going to be, then that was probably for the best.

Bump was standing out front of the gates talking to Jerbo when they arrived and Luz sighed heavily and silently through her nose.

"Ah, you're back," he greeted Amity who nodded silently. "How were the archives?" 

Luz tensed around her books, waiting for Amity to give Bump a summary of her incompetence and attitude.

But she didn't

"It was fine," was all she said. Bump nodded and Amity quickly hurried inside, leaving Luz standing there; confused. 

Why didn't she tell Bump about what had happened at the archives?

She had no discernible answer.

"Excellent work, Luz." Bump nodded to her before he turned and followed the youngest member of the family into the manor.

Luz just continued to stare at the closed door in bewilderment.

"You okay?" Jerbo asked, cocking his head at the flabbergasted look on her face as well as the pale red spot on her cheek.

"Yeah… fine," she answered.

But she was not sure about that answer at all.


	6. Chapter 6

Luz spent the next few days on her guard duty stewing, trying to decide exactly how she felt about Amity Blight, so far, it was nothing good. She waited on bated breath for two days for Bump to inevitably come to her, tell her to scram, that Amity told him about everything that happened in the archives, but he never did. 

She could still feel the sting in her cheek when she thought about that afternoon and anger threatened to bubble up, but she could also still clearly hear Amity’s voice echoing in her head.

_‘You don’t know me!’_

Never had there been a truer statement she thought; she knew absolutely nothing about Amity Blight.

She thought she knew at least one thing, and that was that Amity was certainly the arrogant, vindictive type that would go running straight to Bump the moment they returned to the manor, but she didn’t, and Luz was left knowing even less than the nothing she did before, now all she had were questions. 

She was still angry, the insults, the slap… but she can also admit that she was hardly being sensible or kind herself, and she definitely egged some of it on, trying to get a rise out of the noble, which was not the mature thing to do, and she ended up getting exactly what she wanted in the end. 

She sighed to herself, running a hand through her hair. She should apologize, Amity was right of course, she didn’t know her circumstances or anything about her, certainly not enough to go around throwing out accusations, just as Amity didn’t know her, but the memory of the stinging in her cheek and the insults hurled at her were still too fresh to allow it right this moment.

Luz would hardly consider herself to have a big ego, much as she liked to play the overly confident for laughs, especially considering who her teacher was, but she still had her pride and it would not allow her to apologize yet, not when just as many hurtful things were said and done to her. 

She didn’t see Amity again before her day off, even with no proof, she just knows the other woman is avoiding her, she doesn’t mind that at all, the only thing she could possibly say to her at this point would be an apology, and she isn’t ready to face her yet. She doubted she would get one in return, she was a noble after all.

She tried to put a halt on that thought, jumping to conclusions like that was part of what got her into this mess to start with, despite all the evidence she’d gathered from previous experiences in dealing with nobles over the years that told her otherwise, she had always prided herself on keeping an open mind, how many times had she been looked down on because of her ears?

She stood in the stables, in the empty stall she had claimed as her personal space, and shucked off the black tunic, bearing the Blight family crest and tossed it at King, asleep in the corner. 

She chuckled to herself as it landed on his head, making him sit up.  
She grinned as he shook it off and gave her a look that couldn’t be translated as anything but annoyed.

“Sorry,” she laughed, hardly sorry at all as she pulled on her own, violet-colored tunic and cinched her sword belt around her waist, her biweekly payment of three-hundred and sixty silver secured safely next to her sword as she looped the leather into a knot. 

She needed a chainmail shirt. Eda had never been willing to buy her one since she hadn’t really done much fighting herself, but she planned on it now, and the last thing she wanted was to do was be run through by a pike or a sword the first time she entered a tourney or a duel. 

“Come on, Bud!” She took off out of the stables at a run, she needed to get out of this place for the day and as quickly as possible. She could hear King’s large paws slapping the ground in a trot as he followed along behind her. 

Her sword and coin pouch rattled against her hip as she ran out of the gates, giving a wave to Jerbo, who waved back as she jogged by. His day off was tomorrow, so she would have gate duty with another guard, none of which liked her at all, but that was a problem for tomorrow, she was going to fully enjoy today. 

The city was full of people all moving from one place to the next at any given time, going about their business, barely paying her any mind except to move out of the way as the two barreled down the busy streets of Bonesburough in an excited rush. She could do whatever she wanted today, so standing still and watching the world slowly move by without her was not on her agenda for the afternoon. It was as though she’d been building her energy stores for the past several days and she felt fit to burst with all of it swirling around inside of her. 

She made a direct beeline for the smithy. She still hadn’t had a chance to explore much of the city yet, so it was easy for her to get turned around, but the towering pillar of smoke she could see in the distance showed her the way to her destination.

She could smell the burning wood, coal, and metal by the time she turned the corner, the shop came into view and immediately she spotted Viney out front, shoveling coal into the billowing furnace, the sleeves of her tunic rolled up to her elbows and leather apron on, protecting her from most of the errant sparks.

“Hey, Viney,” she called out with a grin as she trotted up. 

The witch stood and turned to her, face hidden behind the metal plate mask.

"Well, hey stranger," she flipped the mask up and grinned. "I see you haven't been impaled yet,"   
The blacksmith chuckled as Luz stopped in front of her.

"Not yet, but it’s still early into my knight career…” Luz grinned.

“True… what is that?” Viney’s eyes went wide as she looked down at King, who blinked back at her.

“Oh, this is King, he was here with me last time, though I guess he did go with Eda while we were in the shop,” she admitted.

Without warning, Viney stepped forward and knelt down to be face to face with the demon wolf and held a hand up. King tentatively sniffed the appendage before snorting and allowed Viney to reach up and scratch the space between his ears and horns. 

“Isn’t he handsome!” she said, making the beast seem to puff up with the praise and Luz rolled her eyes at him. 

“He’s something,” she mumbled to herself, smiling. 

“You have a lupus infernum as a pet?” she looked back up at Luz as she scratched behind one of King’s ears.

“A what?” Luz cocked her head at the name.

“Lupus infernum, a hell wolf, they’re a rare species of monster that roam the wilds in the far north. Usually, very, very hostile…,” she hummed, turning back to King, his eyes closed as he enjoyed the impromptu pampering, tail thumping on the ground. 

“Well, he’s more of a companion than a pet, and he was already traveling with my mentor when I first met her, she said he just kind of showed up one day, injured, she patched him up and he just kinda stayed." Luz shrugged. She'd never really questioned the beasts’ presence, besides, he was good company.

"I imagine having him around is useful when you're traveling out in the wilderness," Viney said as she climbed back to her feet.

“He is… when he wants to be,” she chuckled, reaching down to pat his head.

“So, what can I do for ya?” she crossed her arms and turned to the human.

“I need a mail shirt,” 

“Well, we got ‘em, come on in, and have a look.” 

Luz followed the shorter blacksmith inside and she showed her what she had. She picked one up, testing its weight in her hand, they were heavier than she had expected. 

“I think this will work.” she nodded. 

“Hundred silver and it’s yours,” Viney said and Luz nodded, counting out the silver pieces from her bag and handing them off to Viney. 

When the deal was done, she wasted no time pulling off her tunic and slipping on the chainmail shirt, it hung heavy from her shoulders as she moved about, pulling her tunic back on. She was definitely going to have to get used to it. 

“Do some training in that and before you know it you’ll forget you're even wearing it,” Viney promised.

Luz and King hung around the shop a while, Viney even showed them a few things around the smithy before they spotted a group of the Emperor’s soldiers making their way toward the forge and Luz decided now would be the perfect time to go. Eda had always warned her about crossing paths with them. They had a tendency to do whatever they wanted and called it the ‘will of the Emperor’. She waved to Viney as the two trotted away, back through the crowded city streets. 

It seemed that life in the city never stopped, Luz had yet to see a day where the streets weren’t filled to the brim, especially the market.

She could hardly think there were so many vendors all shouting to be heard over each other and trying to grab the attention of the people passing by.

One vendor did catch her attention though, sort of.

King grabbed the edge of her tunic between his teeth and dragged her in the direction of a witch selling large chunks of meat hanging from hooks in his stall, and Luz rolled her eyes at the beast.

“Okay, okay, but don’t get used to this!” she warned him as she negotiated a price for a thick slice of some kind of meat, she didn’t even need to know what kind, it wasn’t like she’s going to be the one eating it. 

She got a fat, juicy strip of shiny, red meat for a price that was much lower than she had expected, but she figured the large demon wolf at her side had a lot to do with that. She thanked the vendor and turned to King, who was looking up at her with wide, rust-colored eyes, and drool dripping from his maw, forming a puddle at her feet.

“Ready?” she asked with a grin, shaking the meat and watching as King’s eyes never wavered from it, his whole body shaking in anticipation.

She chunked it up into the air and watched, grinning as he jumped up and snatched it up in his jaws before he quickly chomped it down and swallowed.

“You’re a glutton,” she laughed, scratching his head.

“Luz!?” 

The human looked up at the call of her name and found herself staring back at both Willow and Gus.

“Willow, Gus! What are you guys doing here?” she turned to the two with a smile.

“I was on my way out of the city to collect some ingredients with Gus, I didn’t realize you knew him.” the witch smiled at her. 

“And I didn’t know you knew, Willow,” The apprentice archivist laughed. “What are you doing in the market?” he asked.

“King and I are just enjoying our day off.” she smiled, gesturing to the beast. Both Willow and Gus looked at him with wide eyes, taking an unconscious step back from the demon wolf still swallowing the remnants of his meal. “It’s okay,” Luz assured. “King is a friend.”

Her assurance didn’t seem to do much as King looked up at them as he ran his tongue across his muzzle and the pink spots of blood now staining the white fur around his upper lip. 

“Uh…” Gus stood behind Willow, peeking out at the beast.

“I promise, look.” She knelt down next to King and wrapped her arms around his fluffy neck and gave him a squeeze, ruffling the thick mane-like fur that protected his neck and he let her.

The two witches looked at each other, unsure, Willow slowly stuck out a hand. King gave it a tentative sniff, much the same way he had Viney before giving it a small lick, which prompted Willow to slowly, carefully run her fingers over the bridge of his nose.

He closed his eyes and allowed the soft scratching, which made Gus finally move out from behind the apothecary and with a shaking hand, reach to scratch the spot behind King’s left ear, which made his tail thump approvingly on the ground.

“See?” Luz smiled up at them. “He’s my pequeño bebé," she cooed, rubbing her face in his fur.

"Your what?" Willow blinked at the words. 

"Ahh, sorry, pequeño bebé, my little baby," she laughed, finally extracting herself from the wolf and standing up.

"There's nothing little about that." Willow pointed at the demon wolf, which made Luz chuckle.

"What language was that?" Gus looked up at her with wide, amazed eyes.

"Oh, uh, my mom called it 'Spanish'," she explained with a shrug.

"Is that a human language?" Gus was looking at her with wonder in his dark eyes.

"I guess so, yeah." She shrugged again. She'd never heard witches speak it, then again, other than her mother she'd never heard another human speak it either.

"I didn't know humans had their own language…" He pulled a pad of paper from his pocket and started jotting down notes.

"Do you have plans for today or would you like to come with Gus and me to pick herbs in the woods?" Willow asked.

"Yeah! We could use a knight and her companion at our side!" He gestured to her and King. 

"Yeah, sure!" She grinned. she couldn't remember the last time someone her own age had invited her to do something with them; probably never actually. 

They talked about all kinds of things as they made their way outside the city walls toward the nearby forests.

Guss and Willow had lived in Bonesburough their entire lives, and knew the city backward and forwards, and have also been friends nearly as long.

In turn, Luz told them about all the different adventures she'd been on with Eda and King over the last five years, which suitably impressed them.

"I don't think I could ever have what it takes to be a knight, but that sounds amazing. Excitement and adventure around every corner, never knowing what tomorrow might bring." Willow was looking at her with a bright smile as they walked through the woods, carefully picking different plants as Willow pointed them out.

"Well, I definitely like the idea of adventure and excitement, though I would like to live in one place again,… but what I really want to do is protect people from monsters… the beastly kind and the people shaped ones…," Luz trailed off, breaking eye contact with Willow to look off into the forest, which made the witch frown.

"There's no shortage of either," Willow agreed with a frown as Gus looked at their new human friend with concern.

"So, what's it like in human towns?" The younger witch asked, which successfully brought Luz out of her thoughts.

"Huh? Oh… uh, I don't know." She shrugged as she reached out to scratch King's head. 

"You don't know?" Willow cocked her head to the side in question.

It occurred to Luz as they talked, that most of the witches she's encountered who have anti-human sentiments have all been older, usually at least forty or older. She'd very rarely had an issue with anyone younger, and the more time she spent talking with Gus and Willow, she realized no witches under that age had ever even seen a human outside of her. She couldn’t even remember herself the last time she's seen another human, probably not since her mother died seven years ago, and she couldn't remember a time before that either. As far back as her memory stretched, it had only been her and her mother, then just her.

What did it mean, she knew for a fact there were other humans on the Isles at some point, because the older witches know her on-site by her ears; so where were they?

She and her mother had lived alone on the edge of the woods away from any other settlements, she’d always told Luz it was for safety, but safety from what? She assumed witches as she grew, but her mother has been gone a long time, so she wasn’t going to get any answers on that front. 

"How can a human not know what a human town is like?" Gus questioned with a frown.

"I spent the last five years traveling across the empire with Eda, and before that, I lived alone with my mom on the edge of the woods," she explained.

"Wow, your mom just let you leave home to travel around with Eda to become a knight?" Gus asked, amazed by that.

"I started traveling with Eda after living on my own on the streets for two years after my mom died…," The silence that followed her response was deafening and expected, but there was really no other way to say this fact. "It's okay though, it's been a long time." she smiled at them, but even in their short acquaintance with the human, they could tell that it did not reach her eyes. 

"I'm sorry, Luz." Willow frowned and Gus nodded.

"Thanks, but, really, it's okay, it's been seven years, I trained with Eda and I'm well on my way to becoming a well-known knight… even if all I'm doing right now is playing guard for the Blight family…," she grunted, rolling her eyes. 

"You're working for the Blight's?" Willow questioned, the surprise in her voice was clear.

"You know them?" Luz cocked a brow.

"Their youngest daughter, Amity and I are childhood friends, she visits me at the apothecary when she's able to, which isn't very often but…," she trailed off as she saw the sour look on Luz's face. "I take it you've met her?" Willow chuckled.

"How can you be friends with her? She's so…." Luz pursed her lips, searching for the right word, and several raced to the tip of her tongue, but none of them are very nice, even though she promised herself this morning that she would try to be more open-minded in regards to the youngest Blight daughter. “... she’s a bitch.”

Willow just chuckled at her.

"Amity can be… intense, at times. Did the two of you argue about something?" Willow wondered aloud.

"You could put it like that…," Luz trailed off before explaining her and the youngest Blight's interaction at the archives several days ago.

Willow winced at the tale and Gus gasped.

"Yeah, knowing Amity, I'd say you touched a nerve... Not that the things she said were any better, but she's actually very nice, I promise," Willow said.

Luz grunted.

She'd believe it when she saw it.

She spent the majority of the afternoon rummaging around the forest with King and the two witches before finally making her way back to Blight manor by early evening. 

The sun was starting to dip toward the horizon, slowly, but surely, though it was still warm and she was already a little sweaty under the chain mail, so a little more couldn't hurt.

The Blight's had a training yard set up near the guard barracks, near the house beneath the third-floor balcony for them to train. 

She was going to take Viney's advice and get some training in. 

King plopped himself down into the hay of their stable stall to nap, while she makes her way to the training yard.

~ ~ ~

Amity sighed to herself. 

She felt like a prisoner in her own home. 

Even if she had been confined to the manner before while her parents were away, she had at least been able to go places escorted by a guard, but ever since her altercation with their newest guard, Luz Noceda, she couldn't stand the idea of running into the woman again.

Not so much because she finds her boorish and crass, though she certainly does.

No, mostly, she felt ashamed.

Amity had never raised her hand against anyone before in her life, and to be honest, she had surprised even herself after her hand had made contact with Luz's face.

But, what the other woman had said had really struck a nerve somewhere deep inside her, for multiple reasons.

The foremost being that Luz didn't know the first thing about her, and had absolutely no right to judge her, which had lit a raging fire in her gut, one that had quickly been doused in cold fear at the dark look that had fallen over Luz's face the second the shock of her strike had worn off.

For a long moment, she had expected the other woman to hit her back, but she hadn't. She'd simply picked up her books and walked away. 

Amity didn't get her at all.

She also felt guilty.

Guilty for slapping her, and where she was adamant in Luz having no right to judge her, she had done the same thing had she not? Hurled baseless accusations she had no way of knowing we're true or not.

She'd been cold and hostile to the woman from the moment they had met, and she can admit now, while she was still annoyed that Bump won't let her leave the manor grounds unescorted, Luz running into her had been an accident and could have happened to anyone. 

She grumbled to herself as she walked down the long, empty halls of Blight manor, dress swishing around her ankles with the quick movement.

She needed some fresh air, she hadn't even been to her favorite spot by the pond she'd so dreaded the idea of coming face to face with Luz, and knowing that an apology was owed… on both parts really, but she doubted she could count on one being returned by the uncouth warrior.

She scoffed to herself. She was doing it again, foisting her preconceived notions on a person she did not know at all. This whole affair had put her in a bad mood for the last four days. 

Even her siblings seemed to be staying clear of her, perhaps being able to sense the dark cloud that hung over her.

At least there was that. She wasn't sure she could handle the twins and this crisis of conscience at the same time. 

Blights did not apologize, as her parents would say, but unlike her parents, Amity believed she had enough consciousness to know when she was in the wrong and when she needed to make amends. 

Though, knowing and doing, were two very different things; her pride was a very hard thing to ignore.

She quickly moved up the stairs to the third floor. The balcony from there always provided a lovely view of the nearby sea. It was especially breathtaking at sunset or sunrise, she could definitely use the relaxing atmosphere right now.

It was still quite warm when she stepped outside onto the balcony, but there was a breeze that tousled her hair and made the mid-summer heat more bearable, the few clouds that seemed to be rolling across the sky and occasionally covering up the slowly sinking sun also helped.

She leaned on the wooden railing and stared out at the sea, watching the sunlight sparkle off the distant waves in flashes of orange and pinks.

It helped release some of the tension in her body, and she closed her eyes, setting her chin in her hand. She can smell the faint salt that lingered in the breeze from the ocean even from here.

She was all but ready to fall asleep standing up when a loud 'thunk' made gold eyes pop open and glanced around.

The noise came a second time, and now she could follow it. 

Down below her, in the training field that was available to the guardsmen, was Luz.

The human didn't see her from down there, naturally. She was not even turned to face her. 

She was facing a training dummy, sword drawn and held in the ready position. One Amity has seen many times in illustrations of the swordplay books she has read cover to cover multiple times.

Despite her still mixed, negative, feelings about Luz, she couldn't help but watch. The art had always fascinated her. 

The other woman was standing rock still in front of a dummy, it hardly looked like she was breathing, but then she dashed forward, and in one fluid motion struck through one of the dummy’s straw arms, cleaving it away from the rest of the body with the smooth strike before she bounced backward, movements seamless as she put distance between herself and her stuffed opponent, sword raised again and hopped to the side, perhaps as though avoiding a mock strike.

The moment her foot touched down, she was again moving forward, ducking under the dummy's remaining, stretched out arm and pivoted on her foot a swift pirouette that made Amity dizzy just watching, and in a flash of metal, the blade fell, sundering the entire dummy in two at the chest.

Wide gold eyes blinked at the demonstration of skill.

It seemed at least some of her accusations the other day were baseless.

Luz was certainly not graceless, far from it.

If anything, she moved as smoothly as water in a stream, seamless, smooth.

She watched as Luz sheathed her blade and wiped the back of her arm across her forehead. 

She frowned to herself as she stepped away from the railing, hands clenched into the fabric of her dress skirt. 

She always told herself that she would be a bigger person than her parents. and it was time she finally practiced what she preached.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> prob gonna need to edit this again later.


	7. Chapter 7

Luz smashed and hacked up training dummies until her arms were too tired to hold her sword up anymore. Normally she could go for longer, but the added weight of the chainmail had sapped a lot of her usual energy. The sun had started to dip below the horizon line by the time she finally got back to the stables, the day had all but slipped away between spending time with her new friends and training, not to mention the brief trip to the nearby river to bathe, she was quite sweaty and King wouldn’t lay with her if she smelt bad, sensitive nose and all. She washed her clothes while she was at it and between the heat of the sun that had been soaking into the rocks all day and its overhead light, neither they nor she took long to dry.

Eda had always considered her habit of bathing as often as she did, which was only every other day, strange, especially since they were always on the move, and getting into messy situations, but that was how it had always been when her mother had been alive, and after the two years between her mother’s death and meeting Eda, she liked knowing she had the option. 

Luz yawned as she plopped herself back comfortingly into her pile of hay next to King, who made a grunting sound at the disturbance before he set his head in her lap as she picked up the top book on her stack and opened it, running the fingers of one hand through his fur. 

Gus had helped her find a book that was supposed to help her learn to read runes, but she was starting to think that witches begin learning runes at such a young age on the Isles, that even books designed for beginners were still beyond her comprehension.

What sense did it make to have a book that was supposed to teach you how to read runes be mostly in the runes you can't read!? 

She slowly, and painfully read through several pages, or skimmed them really, before she couldn't take anymore and closed it with a snap. Why was this so hard? She was never going to learn any more enchantments at this rate. She couldn’t understand the book, it referenced some runes as though she should already know them and of course they seemed to be some of the most important ones as the book mentioned them constantly.

She took a slow, deep breath and opened the book again. Luz had never gotten anywhere by giving up, that was for damn sure!

She blinked tiredly at the pages twenty minutes later and grumbled to herself.

“Luft, ild, vann, jord…...Ugh! These make no damn sense!” she held the book up overhead and shook it. King snorted, uncaring about her magical problems. “I keep seeing these four but it doesn't explain what they mean!” she yelled, frustratedly shaking the pages.

“Air, fire, water, and Earth, they’re the runes for the four basic elements…,” A sudden voice broke the quiet, and Luz shrieked, dropping the book on her face with a painful thump as King jerked up at the voice. Luz could hear his deep, guttural growling as she bolted upright, whipping the book away from her face to look at the person standing in the entrance to the stall.

Amity was standing there, frozen solid as the very large, black, wolf with skull-shaped white fur on his face and horns, stood between her and Luz, lips curled back over pearly, dagger-like fangs and growling at her as rust-colored eyes bore into her. In the dimness of twilight, she was sure they were glowing a faint red.

“King!” Luz’s sharp call made the beast back up, lips lowering back down over his teeth, but he was still growling low and deep in his throat, and his eyes never moved off her as he sat back down; body tense.

“He won’t hurt you…,” Luz said with a frown as she saw who exactly had stumbled upon her little area of the stables. What was she doing here? 

Amity reluctantly took her eyes off the still growling beast to look at Luz, who was not looking at her anymore friendly

“What can I do for you,... Lady Blight…,” Luz greeted with a frown, the tone wasn’t hostile but it certainly wasn’t friendly either. 

Amity’s hackles immediately wanted to rise in response to the tone, but she shoved it back down. After what happened in the archives, she doesn’t exactly deserve a warm welcome and she wasn’t surprised the other woman didn’t sic her beast on her. 

“I…,” she started, fisting her hands so tightly she could feel her nails biting into the flesh of her palms, creating red, crescent-shaped divots in the skin as she took a deep breath through her nose. “I came to apologize to you,” she finally managed to get out, but her gaze flickered away from those wide, brown eyes. 

Luz’s eyes grew comically wide at that as she blinked up at the noble. Surely she’d misheard that and Amity Blight wasn't here to apologize to her. Amity was frowning and looking anywhere but at Luz as the moment of silence stretched on before finally, those gold eyes landed on her again and stayed there. 

"The things I said to you the other day were uncalled for, I don’t know anything about you and it was unbecoming of me to make baseless accusations, what happened at the market was an accident, and I certainly should never have raised my hand to you and I’m sorry for that,” Amity finished and Luz wasn’t sure what to say at first as those gold eyes pierced into her, looking almost alive in a way as the rays of the setting sun bounce off them. 

“Thank you…,” was what she finally managed to get out and Amity gave a jerk of a nod before turning to go, but Luz can’t let her go yet, if Amity can be big enough to come and make her apologies, then there wasn’t any reason Luz couldn’t also swallow her pride and do so. “I’m sorry too,” she said, and Amity paused, turning to look at her over her shoulder. “...If my running into you got you in trouble with Sir Bump." She scratched the back of her head. "That and everything I said too, you're right, I don't know you and it wasn't right for me to assume anything…" Luz frowned, looking up at her from the pile of hay she was still sitting in. King's threatening growls had ceased.

"Thank you…," was all Amity said, voice quiet before she turned back forward and walked away, back toward the manor in the disappearing rays of twilight.

Luz watched her go, blinking.

"Well, I didn't expect that…," she said aloud, turning to King, who snorted as he plopped himself back down into the hay at her side.

Luz hummed and looked down at the book still sitting open across her lap.

“Air, fire, water and earth…," she repeated what Amity had said. "If these are the four basic elements then…" she dog-eared one of the pages and set it aside before picking up the book she had learned the light enchantment from and flipped it open to a page she had been studying before.

It had a series of lines that looked like a glyph, but no circle, and when she tried to draw it, nothing happened. In the corner of the page next to the lines was a rune she now recognized as ild, fire.

If the glyph she was looking at is fire, maybe it didn't work because it wasn't complete? She knew that putting something that could easily catch fire in a book, was probably not a great idea. She flipped through the book and could see that the other glyphs, much like the one for light, also have circles drawn around them.

Luz leaned over and dug through one of her pouches, pulling out a piece of charcoal and looking around the stall, spotted a broken chunk of board that must have come from the stables. She grabbed it and glanced again at the book laying open across her legs and drew a circle before carefully drawing the lines from the page within it. 

She looked at it for a long second, checking it against the book before nodding to herself and tapped it with a finger. The lines glowed for the briefest of moments before the stall lit up in a flash as fire erupted from the glyph, making King jump up.

Luz jerked, almost dropping the flaming chunk of wood into the pile of hay she was lounging in. she quickly rolled out of it, getting hay in her hair, and held it safely above her till she was sitting in the dirt away from her very flammable bed, and set it in the dirt to burn. 

“I made fire… I learned to make fire!” she grinned giddily to herself as she watched the chunk of wood burn. King didn’t look half as excited as her. “You’re just jealous…” she stuck her tongue out at him and he snorted, plopping back down in the hay, pointedly facing away from her. 

Luz watched the fire burn with rapt attention till all that was left was ash and embers glowing in the semi-darkness. When it was gone she sat back, thinking of the manor just across the grounds. 

She had even more questions now than she did before. 

Amity Blight was more confusing than ever.

Luz scraped some dirt over the embers, making certain they were good and smothered, lest she woke up on fire and having burned down the manor’s stables. Once she was certain no errant sparks would light the place ablaze, she shut her books and leaned back into her hay pile, getting herself comfortable and hummed to herself as she looked through the stables open slats at the large manor, gentle light emanating from the home’s windows.

King finally turned over, his big head laying across her stomach and she gently scratched the space between his ears, growing sleepy.

She hadn’t expected Amity to come and apologize, she didn’t know what to think anymore. 

~ ~ 

After breakfast Amity quickly made her way to Bump's office, she needed to talk to someone and she was going to need permission to go where she needed to go to do that. She hoped to convince him that she could take a simple trip to the apothecary by herself. 

The door was closed as it usually was and when she knocked, the older witch’s voice beckoned for her to enter. 

“Sir Bump?” she asked as she walked in, shutting the door behind her. At her voice, Bump looked up from the parchment he had been scratching at with a quill.

“Ah, Amity, what can I do for you?” 

“I’d like to go to town, I need some ingredients for some potions I’m working on,” she explained, a lie, sort of. She would be buying some things while she was in town, but she mostly wanted to talk to Willow, it had been too long since she'd been able to have a peaceful conversation with the plant witch since they had to be had in secret. 

Her parents had wanted her to break all her ties with Willow years ago, and she had, publicly, anyway.

As a child, Willow had been her only real friend. She had many acquaintances from other noble families all across the Isles, the kind of people her parents wanted her to associate with, but friends? No, Willow was still her only true friend. 

Willow was the only person she could be honest with, or as honest as she could ever be with anyone, she thought.

She smiled to herself as Bump nodded.

“You may go to the market…,” he started, and Amity smiled. “...so long as a guard accompanies you,” he finished and her smile fell. It took everything she had to keep the scowl off her face.

She despised this, having to be accompanied everywhere like she was a child.

“Sir Bump…,” she started but he held a hand up, frowning.

“We won’t discuss this again, Amity, until Lord and Lady Blight return from their trip in some months, you are not to leave the grounds unescorted, do you understand?” his narrowed eyes locked onto her. Amity clenched a fist but nodded. “Good, take a guard and hurry off to the market.” With that, he picked his quill back up and returned to his writing, a clear dismissal. 

She nodded before quickly turning on her heel and made her exit, grumbling curses to herself under her breath.

Most of the guards would never let her dally in the market, it had happened before, they would insist on getting what she came for and then returning her to the safety of the manor, as though she were made of glass and if people looked at her too long she might shatter.

She scowled to herself as she stomped down the manor’s halls, still grumbling as she stopped in front of one of the windows that faced the front gate and gazed out the glass at the warm sunny day outside the manor. One other people were free to enjoy all by themselves. 

While starring outside with a sour look on her face she spotted a familiar head of dark brown hair down at the front gate.

Luz.

She bit her lip thoughtfully.

Her nerves over what happened between them had soothed after the apology given and received last night, but now she was even less sure of how she felt about the human woman, she hadn’t expected an apology in turn, only further proving that she had been very wrong in her assumptions of the human. Time spent with her might prove nothing but awkward after their last couple of interactions

Then again, Luz also hadn’t been here long and didn’t have any real reason yet to be blindly loyal to her parents like the old guard, she could probably get away with more with the human escorting her to town…

That, over any possible awkwardness, cinched it for her, and she quickly made her way down to the front doors, where Luz and another witch she’d seen, but couldn’t bother to recall his name, were standing, guarding the front gate.

She grabbed the dark cloak from her room first, not the one with the family crest on it that she knew her parents would prefer she wear in public, to make sure people always saw her, but they weren't here, and Bump was in his office, so she couldn’t care less right now what they wanted. 

She wasted no time walking out the front doors toward the gate, straightening her shoulders. 

Luz and the other guard quickly noticed her approaching and the one immediately straightened, opening the gate for her, while Luz just looked at her curiously. 

“I need an escort to the market…,” she announced as she stepped outside the fence. The other guard perked up, but before he could offer himself Amity turned her gaze to the human.

“Come with me, Luz.” 

Luz blinked at her, why would she want her? Maybe they had technically made up last night if one could call it that, but even she could clearly see how eager the other guard at her side was, and Luz would be glad to be rid of him for a while. He’d been making snide little comments off and on all day to her. Not about being human, curiously, just being a nobody for hire. He was a member of the old guard, but just as much a servant as her!

Actually, this was perfect, she’d get away from him and subtly rub it in his face.

Luz just nodded and Amity seemed pleased by the minimal response as she flipped up the hood of her cloak. She leaned her pike against the gate and followed Amity away, toward town, glancing at her fellow guard over her shoulder. He was glaring daggers at her, lips pulled back over his teeth in a sneer. It didn’t seem like she could make this situation any worse, so she stuck her tongue out at him for good measure before she turned and followed after Amity into the city.

It was quiet for several long minutes, and despite the obvious awkward tension hanging in the air between them Luz just couldn't stand long stretches of quiet.

"Where are we going?" she finally couldn't help but ask.

"I need to visit the apothecary," Amity said. She didn't really need to explain herself to the guard, but they had only just mended things, so she indulged her for the sake of keeping the peace. 

"Oh, maybe Willow will be there…,” she said quietly to herself, but Amity heard and stopped dead, causing Luz to almost walk into her at the abrupt stop. She took a step back as Amity spun around to face her.

“You know Willow?” she asked, surprised.

“Uh, yeah, I spent all day with her and Gus yesterday, you know her too?” Luz asked, tilting her head to the side curiously.

A twinge of jealousy shot through Amity at that. That Luz had spent all of yesterday with her closest friend. She didn't know Gus, but Willow talked of him often. She wished she could just go wherever she pleased whenever she so desired, instead of having to beg permission from her family's steward and then have her every step be watched over as though she were an infant.

She took a deep breath through her nose, trying to reign in the anger that was threatening to rise to the surface, she would only explode if it did and that was not Luz’s fault. 

"Yes, we are well acquainted," she managed to say levely but added nothing more.

“Great, let’s go!” Without waiting for Amity, Luz started walking again toward the apothecary. Amity blinked at her back for a moment before hurrying to catch up with the other woman’s long strides, grabbing up her skirts so she could move quicker after her. 

“Damn tall people…,” she grumbled to herself. 

Once they reached the shop Amity quickly moved to the door, turning to Luz.

“Wait out here,” she said and Luz frowned, ready to protest, but remembered herself, she worked for this woman, and that was what she was currently doing, so she bit her tongue, but it was apparent how unhappy she was to Amity as she grunted a response and folded her arms across her chest. 

Amity ignored the guards pouting and stepped inside, rolling her eyes.

Willow looked up greeting on the tip of her tongue until she realized who had walked into her shop as Amity pulled off her hood. 

“Amity!” she hurried around the counter to hug the noble who smiled into her shoulder as she squeezed back. 

“How did you get away from the manor?” Willow asked as she stepped back.

“I had to have an escort.” she rolled her eyes and gestured out the shop's front window where Luz could be seen leaning against the wall, arms crossed and still pouting to herself. 

“Oh! I take it you and Luz cleared up your little misunderstanding then?” Willow looked at her knowingly. 

“How did you…,” Amity started and Willow chuckled.

“She told me, she was asking how we could possibly be friends since you were… well, I'm not gonna say what she said, but yes, she explained it to Gus and I yesterday.” 

Amity scowled at that, crossing her arms in a huff.

“You did slap her…,” Willow reminded, crossing her own arms and leaning her hip on the counter. Which made Amity sigh.

“I apologized for that… and the things I said,” she grumbled like a child being scolded by a parent.

“Did Luz apologize to you?” she asked and Amity nodded.

“She did.”

“Then why don’t we have her join us? Luz is funny.” Willow smiled and Amity knew there was only one right answer. 

“Fine…,” Amity sighed as Willow walked over and stuck her head out the door.

“Come on in, Luz.” Willow held the door open for the young knight, who smiled brightly as she slipped inside. “I know you want some tea, Amity, would you like some, Luz?” she asked.

"Please," Luz smiled as they moved to sit on some stools around the counter while Willow disappeared into the back to make tea.

Amity and Luz sat in awkward silence, Luz slapped her hands against her knees as she looked around the shop.

Amity glanced at her from the corner of her eye as she waited for Willow to return. How did she know her? Their acquaintance couldn’t have been very old because Willow had never mentioned the human before, and she had seen her only a week ago. 

She decided it would be easier to simply cut to the chase.

“How do you know Willow?” she turned fully to Luz, whose attention returned to her at the sound of her voice.

“Oh, I came in here last week asking for directions and she used an experimental elixir on a wound I had.” she reached up to touch the pronounced scar on her face beneath her left eye.

‘I… see,” Amity wasn’t sure what else to say to that. That certainly sounded like something Willow would do, and she already knew that she didn’t know enough about uz to make any assessments; yet. 

Thankfully, Willow came back quickly with a boiling kettle and three cups.

Amity chatted with Willow while Luz sipped on her tea between throwing in her own two snails to everything they said, which normally, would have annoyed the noble to pieces, but everything Luz added was either a good point or introduced a new way of looking at something she hadn’t considered.

Luz had a manner of speaking that was far above most commoners Amity had met before, not to mention she could read and write, something also very rare in the empire's common class. 

The more Amity learned, the less she seemed to know. 

They were only able to stay a couple of hours before Willow inevitably had to open the shop back up to customers

They parted with quick waves and promised to return another day as Amity pulled her hood back up.

Amity listened to Luz hum happily to herself as they walked down the street, through the thick of the market and the dense crowds. 

It was windy today and a sudden gust shot through the market blowing her hood off. Her bright green hair stood out like a sore thumb among the crowd. She quickly pulled it back up and glanced around.

No one seemed to be looking at her and she sighed in relief. Luz watched her silently from a few feet behind.

While they were here she did need to pick up a few things from another shop to solidify her cover story. She turned down another section of the market, Luz still trailing behind, looking at all the different things for sale as they walked. 

Something seemed to catch her interest and she hesitated.

“I’m only going to be over here if you want to look at something.” she gestured to another stall and Luz nodded as she stepped up to a stall selling, Amity couldn’t even begin to guess at, as she moved to the stall at the end of the street.

Amity had been to this particular stall many times over the years when she’d been able.

Several kinds of weapons were laid out across the wooden stand's counter, several swords, and daggers. Their shiny, silver, polished blades gleamed in the sunlight as Amity admired them.

“Back again I see, milady.” the vendor smiled at her and she smiled back. “Perhaps today is finally the day you do more than look?” he asked and Amity smiled sadly at him and shook her head.

“Not today, Lavis, probably not ever,” she admitted, shaking her head.

“Ah, never say never,” he consoled. 

She spent several minutes talking with the old vendor and admiring his wares before she finally turned to make her way back to Luz. she could see her still standing, bent over a stall looking at something when a hand wrapped tightly around her arm and jerked her into a nearby alley. Before she could even think to scream a hand clamped tightly over her mouth, muffling her surprised sounds as she struggled in someone's grip. A grungy looking man appeared in front of her, and pressed the tip of a dagger tightly against the front of her throat, she could feel the point biting into her skin. 

“Stop struggling and don’t make a sound,” he hissed only an inch from her face. His breath reeked and she could see he was missing a few teeth in the front while the rest were yellowed and rotten looking. 

Another man was standing behind her, one arm wrapped constricting around her waist and his hand was slapped over her mouth. 

“Looky here, Lady Blight, you be a good girl, your parents pay us and no one gets hurt,” he said.

Amity growled under her breath, making the one behind her chuckle quietly.

“This one has some fight in ‘er,” he breathed against the shell of her ear and his warm breath made her skin crawl. “I bet I can fix that…,” He squeezed her closer and real fear shot through Amity, her heart pounding in her chest at the possibilities in those words, none of them good. 

“I’m sure, but let’s get her back to camp first, we can send the ransom note and then deal with her while we wait,” the one in front of her grunted, taking a step back.

The second the dagger was no longer touching her skin Amity tried to break free, jerking in the unseen witch's grip, but he seemed to have been prepared for that and his grip on her tightened, but his hand on her mouth slid down enough that she was able to sink her teeth deep into his hand. 

He let out a pained yell as she bit down as hard as she could.

“Fucking bitch!” he snarled, jerking her back, his grip on her becoming almost crushing.

“I guess her parents aren’t getting her back in one piece.” the snaggle-toothed with frowned and stretched out his arm and pressed the tip of the blade back to her throat making her settle. “Now we’re gonna cut off some fingers to send with that note…,” he started, then in a flash of light the dagger fell away in a spray of blood and screaming as snaggle tooth’s severed hand fell to the dirt, dagger still clutched in its lifeless fingers. 

Luz stood there, sword still hovering in the air after the strike, face set in a snarl. 

Amity looked at her in surprise, but then she felt the grip on her waist loosen and seized the moment to slam her head backward with all her might, and a loud crunching sound echoed through the alley as the back of her head made contact with her unseen captor's nose.

“Argh!” 

She jerked forward, breaking free of his arms to dart behind Luz, who stood protectively in front of her, both hands gripped around the hilt of her sword, muscles tensed, ready should either one of them make another move.

“Leave…,” she growled, while snaggle tooth continued to wail, trying to stop the torrent of blood coming from his new stump of a wrist, while the other, a bald witch in a bandana, looked at her with wide eyes, blood pouring out of his now crooked nose. “Now!” she barked, taking a menacing step forward. He jumped and grabbed snaggle tooth and pulled him along as they took off down the alley, leaving a trail of blood behind them.

Luz sighed, lowering her blade as she turned to Amity, once she was sure they were gone.

“Are you alright?” she asked, looking the noble over. She’d taken her eyes off her for a few minutes and when she’d looked back up she had been gone. She’d figured Amity had ditched her until she had heard one of the men's pained yells coming from the alley only to find her noble charge at dagger point. 

Amity nodded shakily and spit, trying to rid her mouth of the foul taste of the witch’s hand. Luz grabbed the waterskin off her belt and offered it to her. Amity took it and washed her mouth out, but the taste lingered.

Liz bit her lip almost hard enough to draw blood. This was why Amity had an escort outside the manor. She hadn’t been taking this very seriously, till now. She felt guilty. Another minute or so and Amity would have been gone, held for ransom.

“I’m sorry,” she said and Amity looked up at her, Luz’s face was set in a frown. “I should have been watching you better… it’s no wonder you need an escort… I should have been taking this more seriously,” Luz admitted, meeting the noblewoman’s eyes. 

“I don’t need an escort,” Amity bit out. “That… that’s never happened before…,” she mumbled. 

Luz wasn’t sure if she was telling the truth or not but she nodded. 

“Well, that was more excitement than I figured we’d have on a trip to town…,” Luz hummed, sheathing her sword and turning to make sure the two wouldn’t decide to come back for more, though she doubted it as she eyed the severed hand slaying on the ground in a pool of blood; Amity looked at it too for a moment before bending down and picked up the dagger, prying it from the severed fingers, Luz watched her turn it over in her fingers before slipping it into the pocket of her dress 

“This never happened…” Amity wasn’t looking at her as Luz whipped up to face her, eyes wide.

“What?” Luz blinked.

“This never happened,” she patiently repeated, finally turning to face her. “No one needs to know what happened here.”

“You were just attacked by two guys who wanted to kidnap you for ransom!” Luz threw up her hands. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “I have to tell Bump about…” before she can finish the thought Amity cut her off, gold eyes wide 

“No!” She jerked toward Luz, who unconsciously took a step back and Amity leaned back, biting her lip, her hands clenched into the skirt of her dress. She couldn’t stop her if she really wanted to go to Bump, but if she did, even with an escort, Amity would most certainly not be allowed to leave the manor for who knew how long. “Please... don’t tell Bump about this…,” her voice was low and tinged with desperation. 

Luz frowned. 

It would be easier on her in the end to just tell Bump and have this situation taken off her hands, and yet…, Luz couldn’t bring herself to do that. There was something in the witch's gold eyes, desperate and pleading, silently begging her not to tell the steward about this that she couldn't bring herself to ignore. 

Luz sighed, scratching the back of her head as Amity looked up at her, beseeching.

“Yeah… yeah, okay,” she finally said and Amity sagged in relief.

“Thank you, Luz…” she said and Luz grunted, crossing her arms, prompting Amity to look back up at the taller woman. 

“Seems like this wouldn’t be such a problem if you just got some lessons in defending yourself…” Luz frowned, which made Amity scoff as they finally moved out of the alley, looking around cautiously before they started to make their way back toward Blight manor, Luz walked at her side, rather than the few feet behind her, as was appropriate, but Amity was too tired after that debacle to correct the woman and Luz was not willing to take another chance. 

“You don’t need to tell me that, I’ve been attempting to get lessons in swordplay for years…” 

“No one wants to teach you?” Luz cocked a brow in question, Amity pursed her lips, trying to decide if she really wanted to talk about this with the guard or not. 

“My parents think it would be a waste of time and resources. That a highborn lady like myself should never stoop to such barbaric behavior…,” Amity started after a moment. 

Luz made a face at that. There was nothing barbaric about it. Sure, she’d seen some people handle a sword as though it were a giant meat cleaver or kitchen knife, chopping and hacking, but when done right it was...” 

“...but I think it’s a beautiful art form,” Amity finally finished, and Luz looked at her with surprise. Amity caught her look, and maybe it was Luz’s imagination but she could have sworn there was the faintest hint of pink dusting the noble’s cheeks as she turned her head away. “I just mean… It takes an incredible amount of skill and grace… I’d love to learn...” Amity’s voice held a certain wistfulness to it that Luz knew well. 

She hummed as they walked. The longer she thought about it the more she couldn't help but think of herself and how it felt to want something so badly, only for everyone to tell you that you couldn’t.

She would never forget the look on her mother’s face when she had told her that she wanted to be a knight when she grew up.

It was surprised, at first.

Then she had frowned and gave Luz that stern look she always used when she broke something or got caught getting into something she wasn’t supposed to. A kind of aggravated, disappointed look, before she told Luz that she couldn’t be a knight, only witches were knights and it was much too dangerous for her.

Luz pursed her lips as she could clearly see that face in her mind’s eye. She had a better understanding now of what her mother meant. It was certainly dangerous, but their whole world was dangerous.

What happened to her mother had proven that to her beyond any shadow of a doubt.

She pushed the thought away as she glanced at Amity, frowning to herself as they walked.

“I could teach you…,” she said suddenly, the words slipping past her lips before they could even really register with her brain, especially as Amity came to an abrupt halt, turning to look up at her with wide gold eyes.

“What?” she asked.

By the time her brain was catching up to what she was actually saying her mouth was moving again.

“I can teach you, swordplay. If you want that is,” she clarified.

Amity was still looking up at her in silent wonder. Luz could see her jaw working silently, as though trying to get words out.

“Why?” she finally managed to spit out, confusion dripped from the word. “Why would you do anything for me? I haven’t exactly been kind to you…,” she trailed off, frowning.

“No, but I wasn’t either, so...” She shrugged. “Water under the bridge, and because I know how it feels to want something so badly and everyone is always telling you that you can’t…," her voice faded as she finally broke their stare, those eyes looking at her are much too intense and she had to look elsewhere.

Amity continued to stare up at her, trying to wrap her mind around the offer being made to her. It seemed too good to be true, there had to be a catch.

“What do you want in return?” she finally asked, eyes narrowing, which did make Luz turn back to face her, her brows dipped between her eyes as they locked eyes again.

“I don’t want anything from you,” was her reply. “If you don’t want to, that's fine,” she said as she started back down the street toward the manor. 

Amity jolted, dashing forward to grab Luz’s arm, stopping her.

“No, wait, I do!” she rushed to say before the woman could change her mind. 

Luz glanced down at the small hand wrapped around her elbow and Amity quickly jerked her hand back, folding them together in front of her.

“I do want to learn… but you must want something in return…” she looked up at her in question, not the same accusing kind Luz had seen in her eyes earlier that had made a slight twinge of offense go through her, it was more curious now, though the shadow of distrust lingered. “Name your price,” Amity said testingly, usually, if someone wanted something from her, that was all she needed to say for them to reveal their actual intentions to her. She’d learned a long time ago that her family name came with many strings, one's people had proven time and again they wanted to be able to pluck at their whim, by manipulating her. 

“Nope,” Luz popped the ‘p’ of the word loudly. “I don’t need anything from you.” she shook her head, which made Amity frown, unsure what to say. 

The longer they stared at each other, the more it really seemed like Luz had no alternative motives for offering to teach her, which was surprising, and also made the youngest Blight all the more adamant to offer something in return. Blight’s did not let debts go unpaid.

They didn’t get themselves into debts to start with either, though that voice in her head sounded suspiciously like her mother’s. and thus she ignored it.

She scoured her mind, she knew very little of Luz and what type of trade she might be interested in for her time, but then she remembered last night, coming upon her in the stables, reading a basic runic book out loud to herself. The human obviously didn’t know how to read runes, something Amity was more than advanced in. Before Lilith had left she and her mentor had spent countless hours delving into every advanced manuscript of runes the archives and her family’s personal library possessed. 

“You’re trying to learn runic, that’s what you were doing in the stables last night, right?” she asked and Luz looked down at her.

“Oh, uh, yeah.” she nodded.

“I can teach you, in return for the sword training, that way we both get something we want,” she offered and Luz hummed, rubbing a hand over her chin. 

She may never have figured out the fire glyph last night if it hadn’t been for Amity appearing last night. 

“Deal.” Luz grinned, sticking out her hand. Amity looked at it only for a moment before taking hold of it and giving it a quick shake. Luz’s hand was large, her own smaller hand was cradled in hers, and it was rough and calloused, but warm. 

Luz couldn’t help but notice how much smaller and softer Amity’s hand was than her own, but it was warm. 

Once she drew back, Luz was looking her up and down and Amity couldn’t help but flush at the obvious eyeing she was getting before she could even get angry and shout at the other woman Luz piped up.

“I hope you have something besides a dress to fight in…” she pointed at the ankle-length black and magenta dress she was wearing. 

“I… don’t…,” she finally said after thinking for a moment and Luz made a disapproving sound.

“Then our first order of business is to get you some pants... Let’s go!” she turned in the opposite direction of the manor, back toward the market, and started off before Amity could so much as blink.

“Wh- Luz, wait!” she held up her skirts as she hurried after the knight, who slowed enough for Amity to walk at her side.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That eneded up being so much longer then i thought it would be...


	8. Chapter 8

For the first time in a long time, Amity was excited.

More than excited, but she wasn’t sure how else to describe it, even with her quite extended vocabulary. To finally have a chance at something she’d wanted to do all her life and had never had a chance to do until now? There are few words to describe the elation she felt. 

She and Luz had spent a little longer than they should have at the market a few days ago picking out some clothes that Luz deemed suitable for her to train in, but then they had to hurry back to the manor because it was getting late and if they didn’t Bump would certainly stop her and there was no way to explain the clothes she’d bought. She liked Bump, he was a good teacher, wise, and knowledgeable. That being said, his loyalties were first and foremost to her parents and Amity could not trust him with her secrets, not like she could Lilith, which made it hard to navigate her situation at home at times. 

It had been Lilith that had inspired her desire to learn to fight, well, her and ‘Azura, the good knight’ the heroine of her favorite book.

When Amity had gone to her asking to learn the art of sword fighting Lilith had been more than amenable to the idea, but her parents refused, insisting that she do what they had hired her to do, teach her enchantment magic, and as much as Lilith had wanted to teach her, she had acquiesced to her parent’s wishes, much to Amity’s disappointment. 

She felt a twinge at the thought of her teacher. Lilith had been gone for over a year now, sent across the sea to fight at the Emperor’s order. There had been no word from her in months and some days Amity wondered if the raven-haired knight was even still alive; she missed her.

Amity shook her head, today wasn’t the day for this, she needed to stay focussed. That was what Lilith would want her to do.

Luz was going to start her training today. They would have started already, but Bump had pulled Luz to help oversee some deliveries being made from the estate and she’d been away all day for the last two days, but she was back now and they could begin.

She carefully concealed her training clothes in her dress, the only useful thing about one of the puffy, ugly, hunter-green monstrosities her mother had given her, and one she never wore if she could help it, before leaving the room.

She hurried down the hall, Luz said she would be on gate duty whenever she was ready.

Just as she was about to hit the first stair, a pair of synced voices called out to her.

“Where are you off to in such a hurry today, Mittens?” 

Amity groaned to herself before she glanced over her shoulder where her brother and sister were standing, grinning at her from the doorways of their bedrooms.

“It’s a nice day, I’m going out for a walk,” she grunted.

“Well, that sounds like a lovely idea!” Emira grinned.

“Indeed it does, dear sister, we’ll join you.” Edric’s grin matched his twins’.

“I’d rather you didn’t,” Amity grumbled as the twins came to stand on either side of her.

“Aw, come on, Mittens, we haven’t done anything together in so long,” Emira lamented as she leaned her head on Amity's.

“No,” Amity scowled. 

“Oh, please, we just want to spend some time with our little sister,” Edric baby talked to her as he leaned on her shoulder, making her growl and elbow him in the stomach. He grunted and backed off. 

Amity was steaming inside, there was no way she was going to be able to shake the two now, she’d been waiting for days already! 

She took a deep breath, she could wait another day, Luz wasn’t going anywhere.

“Fine,” she bit out and the twins grinned as they walked down the steps. 

When they approached, Luz looked up and the confusion that broke out across her face as Amity came walking out of the house with two slightly older people that bore a striking resemblance to Amity, as well as each other, was apparent.

“Luz, would you escort us on a walk down to the coast?” she turned to the human guard as they passed through the gate, she tried to send Luz some kind of look with her eyes, trying to convey to her not to mention their training.

“Of course, Lady Blight.” Luz nodded, glancing between the three.

She’d heard of the Blight twins of course, Edric and Emira, but this was the first time Luz had actually seen them in person. She hadn’t been in the manor since the first day when she’d met Bump. 

“Oh, I’ve never seen you before,” Emira said, eyeing Luz up and down and the young knight’s face turned pink at the suggestive smile that had slid onto the older Blight’s face.

“Uhh…” Luz blinked.

“Luz is new,” Amity grumbled, rolling her eyes at her sister's flirtatiousness. She did this every time they got a new guard around their age, which wasn’t often, but it had still happened several times. Once, a young man had to be released from their employ because Emira had flirted with him and he had been convinced she was in love with him and begun following her around and serenading her at her window at night.

Luz just looked embarrassed, thankfully.

“Edric, Emira!” They all turned as Bump stood on the front steps of the manor, looking quite annoyed and the twins grimaced. “A word if you’d please…,” the old witch practically growled, arms folded behind his back and eyes narrowed at the two of them.

“Well, shit…,” Edric mumbled under his breath as the two moved back toward the doors.

Amity caught Luz’s eye and jerked her head in a very clear message.

_‘Let’s go’_

Luz nodded and gave a brief wave to Jerbo as they hurried down the road away from Blight manor before Bump finished reaming out the twins for whatever they had done. 

They walked quickly until they were out of sight of the manor and Amity sighed in relief. She loved her siblings, annoying as they could be the majority of the time, but she was not in the mood for them, not today. 

“So, those were the infamous twins the other guards talked about,” Luz hummed as they walked and Amity rolled her eyes.

“Yes, my brother and sister, Edric and Emira,” she sniffed.

“So I heard,” Luz chuckled. “What did they do to get Sir Bump all riled up?” she asked. 

“I couldn’t begin to guess, the twins like to play ‘jokes’, which sometimes come back to bite them.” She shook her head. “Last week they were confined to their rooms when they poured an elixir into the stew being made for dinner that made it congeal into an abomination, which the house staff had to chase down,” Amity said and Luz snorted. “The halls still vaguely smell like stewed lamb,” she sighed. “I’m just glad Bump showed up when he did, they were insisting on joining me for my ‘walk’,” she grumbled. 

“You don't want to include them in your training?” Luz chuckled at the sour face Amity made. “Why not?” she asked.

Amity opened her mouth to speak but stopped short, jaw snapping back shut with a quiet click. She had just been about to explain her often strained relationship with her siblings when she remembered just who she was speaking to. Luz, who was still all but a stranger to her, an acquaintance, really. Why was she telling her any of this?

She just shrugged in response. 

“We have a tenuous relationship at times,” was all she said and Luz waited for more but it seemed that was all she was going to say on the matter. 

Luz frowned, she could feel the sudden shift in the atmosphere. They had been having a rather pleasant conversation when Amity had suddenly clammed up and Luz wondered if she had said something to offend her, but after quickly thinking over the conversation she couldn’t find fault in anything she’d said. She tried a different tack. 

“So, are you ready?” Luz asked her as she led them to a secluded spot she had scouted out for them to train at, and Amity’s mood seemed to do another complete one-eighty as she smiled up at her, almost giddy, and Luz couldn’t help but think how pretty the noblewoman was when she smiled as opposed to scowling, as was so often the case. 

“I’m more than ready,” Amity asserted, which made Luz grin. 

They walked for a good fifteen minutes before they reached the spot.

A clearing, situated on a low ridge by the shore that hung out over the sand on one side and was mostly surrounded by large rocks on the other that would hide them from view as if the woods weren’t already doing so.

“We’ll train here, it’s away from everything and secluded so no one should see us.” She swept an arm around at the space and Amity nodded as she took it all in.

“Alright, I’m going to change…” Amity pulled the folded up clothes they had bought in the market out of her skirts and looked up to find Luz still standing there, looking at her curiously and her face flared hot. “Do you mind?” she asked, though it certainly didn’t sound like a question.

“No...” Luz shook her head innocently and Amity gave her a long look that made realization flash across her face. “Oh! Uh, right!” she spun around to face the woods and hide her red face. “Sorry! I just… with traveling on the road with my mentor the last five years… there was never much privacy to be had so we kinda just did our own things, ya know?” Luz scratched the back of her head sheepishly as she listened to the sound of rustling fabric.

“It’s fine…,” Amity’s voice was low and obviously embarrassed.

Luz anxiously tapped a booted foot in the dirt before Amity finally called out that she was ready and the human turned around to appraise her new student.

Amity was fidgeting with her clothes, she wasn’t used to such attire.

The snug, gray pants and leather boots Luz had insisted on felt strange on her person, but especially the double-breasted black jacket with the dark green piping and high collar that fit snugly around her neck and chest. When she moved the jacket's tails hit the back of her thighs with every step. She adjusted the magenta armband she had added around her left bicep, a small pop of her own. 

Everything was new and strange, snug, but nothing was uncomfortable, just different. 

“Well, you look ready to train,” Luz appraised. “For the most part…” Luz reached down to her waist and untied the second sword hanging at her waist and tossed the sheathed blade to Amity. “That’s my old training sword, it’s what you’ll be using for the foreseeable future,” she explained as Amity wrapped a hand around the blade’s hilt and pulled it free of its sheath, testing its weight in her hand.

“Training blade, hmm?” she mumbled, running a finger over the edge. “It’s dull.” Amity frowned

“Hey, it took me two years of training before Eda even gave me that,” Luz chuckled. “There's no jumping straight to the front of the line here, Lady Blight.” 

Amity blinked at that. A knight named Eda, she’d heard that name before, but from where escaped her at the moment, there was a nagging little twinge of familiarity in the back of her mind, but she didn’t have time for that right now, they had training to do, she could puzzle it out later. 

“What’s first?” Amity blinked up at her, as she tied the sheath to her belt and took hold of the blade again, ready. 

“Well, first of all, that’s not how you hold it.” Luz walked over and wrapped her hands around Amity’s adjusting them on the hilt, warm, rough fingers moving her own hands into the correct places and once she was done Amity realized how much more natural her new grip felt.

“There…” Luz took a step back. Her stance was still wonky, but it wasn’t important at the moment. “Now try to hit me,” she ordered.

“What?!” Amity’s head shot up at that to look at Luz’s grinning face.

“Try to hit me,” she repeated.

“I’m not going to hit you with a sword!” She lowered the blade tip to the ground. 

“I need to see where you're at and where we need to work, you won’t hurt me, I promise, now swing at me!” Luz again commanded.

“No!” Amity frowned. Even if the blade was dull, swinging it at her could still cause harm.

Luz frowned, tapping her foot before she got an idea. Amity had proven from the moment they met that she had a bit of a temper, and she was about to receive a first-hand lesson in one of the first lessons Eda had ever given her; how to exploit your opponent's obvious weaknesses’.

Luz walked a few steps over to the trees and scanned the ground before picking up a stick about the same length as her sword and walking back over, brandishing the stick like a weapon.

“Hit. Me.” she punctuated each statement with a poke of the stick to Amity’s stomach.

“Stop, I’m not going to hit you!” Amity grumbled, trying to swat the stick away, but Luz was much faster.

“Hit me,” she repeated stabbing harder still at Amity, who winced as the stick stuck her in the ribs.

“Luz!” she snarled, batting at the stick and missing every time as Luz circled around her poking her mercilessly harder and harder as she repeated her command to strike her.

Amity could feel her temper rising by a few more degrees every time Luz jabbed her with her stick. Her jaw clenched and her grip on the hilt of the training blade tightened. She knew what Luz was doing and she was not going to fall for it, there had to be a safer way to do this than what Luz was suggesting. Though, she struggled to suppress a growl as the knight once again jabbed her in the side.

Luz could see it in her face, Amity was breaking, her temper was just about to boil over in a frothing rage with a little more prodding.

On the one hand, she was rather touched that Amity didn’t want to hurt her, but on the other, she found it laughable that she thought she could. 

“Hit me, Blight!” Luz jabbed her particularly hard in the back with the tip of her stick and knew immediately that she had broken through Amity's patience. 

With a strangled, rage-filled noise, Amity spun around, swinging the blade as though it were a club.

Luz hopped back out of range, a grin pulled at her lips as Amity rushed after her, swinging haphazardly and snarling at her. 

Luz could only grin to herself as she danced in and out of range, avoiding every one of Amity’s wild swings and intermittently poking her with the stick, just to add fuel to the fire when it looked like it was starting to dwindle; this was a test of stamina after all.

After a good five minutes of leading Amity around the clearing with her taunting grin and quick pokes with a stick, the noble stood panting, the sword resting against the ground as she tried to get her breath back and looking pissed off.

“That was fun…,” Luz chuckled and Amity growled weakly. 

“Well, I can tell you that stamina is definitely going to need to be worked on,” Luz continued to chuckle as she walked over to her and Amity sighed. She’d fallen for it and was disappointed in herself.

“That’s not going to be a quick process is it?" Amity huffed, looking up at Luz as sweat dripped down her brow. Black might have been a poor choice in attire for training outside at the height of summer. The human crossed her arms and shook her head.

“No, you’ll just have to build it up as we go, but it means that our sessions won’t be very long until you start building up your endurance, if you overwork you’ll end up hurt,” Luz warned as she came to a stop in front of Amity, stick resting on her shoulder. “There are ways to help it along. We need to run.” she grinned.

“Run?” Amity grimaced at that and Luz hummed an affirmative.

“Yup, let’s go!” she whooped and took off, sliding down the ridge to the sandy beach below and tossing her stick aside.

“W-wait, Luz!” She sheathed her sword and quickly followed after her as she jogged down the beach with Amity trailing behind as they kicked up a cloud of sand with their boots. Luz was wearing a chainmail shirt beneath her tunic and still outrunning the noble by a longshot.

Her lungs burned as she tried to keep up with Luz as they dashed across the hot beach beneath the blazing sun, she was sure she was sweating to death inside her jacket. 

So maybe there was more to learning how to use a sword than she initially thought, but Amity was nothing if not tenacious and resolved to all tasks she set herself to, and this one would be no different. 

She wasn’t sure how long Luz made her chase her up and down the beach but it had to be at least an hour judging from the position of the sun overhead.

Luz turned around, running backward now to face Amity who was dragging through the sand at a slow trot rather than a run. Luz was exhausted herself but she did her best not to let it show, she had to put on a good face for her new student after all!

“Come on, Lady Blight!” Luz called, stressing the title. “Is that all you have?” She grinned and Amity scowled at her, opening her mouth to deliver a scathing retort when the heel of Luz’s boot caught on a piece of driftwood and she went tumbling backward in the sand 

“Ay, meirda!” she yelped as she rolled backward flinging up a wave of sand before rolling to a stop on her stomach.

Amity didn’t have the energy or breath to laugh, but that didn’t stop her from grinning wickedly as the woman rolled through the sand before finally landing face-down, flat on her stomach.

Luz grumbled as she pushed herself up onto her elbows and sputtered, spitting out sand as Amity came to a stop in front of her.

“Well, that was embarrassing…,” she mumbled, face pink as she looked up at Amity, who was panting, red-faced, but grinning at her. “Uh, let’s take a break!” she offered with a huff, getting her own breath back as she pushed herself up to stand, brushing off as much sand as she could as she walked over to the water and washed the remaining granules off her face and hands before plopping herself back down onto her butt in the hot sand, facing the sea.

Amity flopped down next to her bonelessly, cupping her hands in the water and washing the sweat from her face. The salty taste of the ocean water was indistinguishable from the sweat that had been dripping down her face for the past hour, but it was cool on her flushed skin and she sighed in relief. When it didn’t feel like she was going to pass out from the heat she looked up at the waves and the clear blue sky, it really was a beautiful day today. 

Luz was contenting herself with digging through the sand till her fingers brushed something hard hidden among the granules and dug her fingers harder into the ground before lifting a whole shell free from its sandy prison. She brushed the remaining grains of sand off as she admired the shiny pink, and white surface, it’s soft spirals were perfectly smooth under her fingers. 

“I love the ocean,” Luz said aloud as she turned the shell over in her hand.

“Hm, why’s that, seashells?” Amity cocked a brow at the human as she leaned back on her hands.

“Well, that’s one reason, yeah,” she chuckled. “It’s just so different from anywhere else, like a whole ‘nother world, with things you can’t find anywhere else.” She held the shell out to Amity who took it between her fingers. “I grew up isolated deep in the woods, I never saw the ocean till I started traveling with Eda five years ago.” 

“That’s your mentor, right?” Amity asked, turning the smooth shell over in her fingers. Luz nodded.

“Yup!” Luz smiled and Amity hummed but they said nothing more for a while.

“Alright!” Luz slapped her knees before she hauled herself to her feet and offered a hand to Amity, who took it and yelped as Luz practically jerked her off the ground effortlessly. “Ah, sorry!” she smiled apologetically. “I’m going to teach you some basic strikes.” she declared and Amity’s exhaustion vanished at that.

Luz pulled her own blade from its sheath, it made a quiet scraping sound as she pulled the blade free and demonstrated a few basic strikes, which they practiced for a few hours. Luz used her own sword to block Amity’s strikes but nothing more. She corrected her footwork and form several times and Amity realized for all the books she had read over the years about the subject, and the knights she had watched compete in tourney’s, it was nothing compared to doing it herself. 

They practiced till Amity’s hands were sore and her exhaustion returned with a vengeance. All she wanted to do was lay down and sleep. Luz seemed to pick up on her ever more sluggish movements before she called for an end to training, she was getting tired herself, though she blamed that on the chainmail she was still becoming accustomed to beneath her tunic. 

“Let’s call it a day," she finally declared and Amity almost cried in relief, but she didn’t, though only just. She wanted to sit but feared she wouldn’t be able to get back up if she did. 

“When I get a chance I’ll set up some training dummies for you to practice on.” Luz scratched her chin as she looked around the clearing thoughtfully. 

“Will we train here again tomorrow?” Amity asked her after a moment, sheathing the training blade.

“Oh, after how today went, we won’t be training tomorrow,” Luz said, looking at her.

Amity straightened, feeling indignation well up within her. Did Luz think because of her poor running performance today that she couldn’t do it, was she already rescinding her offer to teach her?

“No, I can do it!” Amity insisted. “Perhaps today had a bit of a rough start, but I can do this!” she insisted. Luz blinked wide, brown eyes at her.

“No, Amity, you don’t…”

“Just let me prove it!” Amity cut her off and Luz frowned. Amity obviously didn’t understand what Luz was trying to say to her. Now she understood why Eda had taught her with a ‘show’, rather than ‘tell’, style. Some things were just easier learned by experience, and though Luz didn’t really want to do that per se, it wasn’t going to stop what was going to happen tomorrow, regardless of whether or not she turned it into a teachable moment, so she might as well. 

“Okay, we train tomorrow; no matter what,” she finished and it had a slightly ominous tone to it, but Amity got what she wanted and was pleased, so she nodded. Luz just shook her head knowingly, lips curling up at the corners ever so slightly. 

When they returned to the manor she and Luz parted ways at the front gate and Amity hurried upstairs to her room, hand on the knob of her door when a voice made her stop.

“Well, look who finally came home.” 

“I can’t believe you ditched us.” 

She glanced over her shoulder at her siblings, standing there looking at her from their own bedrooms, annoyed.

“You two seemed to have your hands full with Sir Bump,” she smirked and Edric snorted.

“He has no sense of humor,” The only blight son grumbled, crossing his arms and leaning on the doorframe. 

“What happened to you, I thought you were going for a walk?” Emira cocked her head as she looked at her sister's disheveled appearance. Her mint green hair was slightly matted and damp while her dress was wrinkled with bits of grass stuck to it, but she looked overall pleased before the two of them had gotten her attention. 

“I… fell,” she finally said and the twins glanced at each other. 

“You fell,” Emira repeated, crossing her arms and giving her sister a long look.

“Yes, down a hill…” Was that really the best she could come up with? She scolded herself. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m tired.” With that, she disappeared into her room, leaving her sibling standing in the hall in silence.

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Edric asked, turning to his twin.

“That Mittens is shagging the cute new guard?” Emira asked and Edric blinked wide eyes at her.

“Actually, I was gonna say I think she’s getting more clumsy, but that makes way more sense!” He laughed. “Didn’t think she had it in her… no wonder she didn’t want us to come along…”

“Too bad… I thought she was cute…,” Emira pouted.

“You could always try anyway?” Edric suggested, looking at her from across the hall. “I mean, I’m not saying you should and it would certainly be a shit thing to do, but you could.” He shrugged. Emira scoffed.

“What kind of woman do you take me for, to try and steal a woman from my own baby sister?” She shot him a scandalized look that made him laugh.

“I was just saying!” 

~ ~ 

Amity quickly pulled off her dress, training pants still on beneath. The jacket would have been visible beneath the dress, so it had to come off.

Just as she went to pull them off and she felt something in the pocket and dug her hand in to wrap around something smooth and warm before she pulled out the pink and white shell Luz had given her. She ran her fingers over the smooth surface. The pinks were bright against the off white and she admired it for a long moment before setting it on the table near her bed and finished changing out of the dirty clothes.


	9. Chapter 9

Everything hurt.

And she did mean everything... 

It took a herculean effort for Amity just to pry her eyes open the moment she came into consciousness. Even just laying still in her bed, her body throbbed with every beat of her heart and she groaned to herself.

Everything was sore and she winced with every movement as she slowly pulled herself to sit up in bed. 

Her muscles screamed in protest as she stood from the bed wincing. Even her hands hurt. She glanced down at her palms to see the new raised up blisters across the pads of her fingers and at the base of her palm from holding the training sword, they were soft and tender.

All she wanted to do was lay back down in bed, and she would have, had she not remembered that she had training again with Luz today, at her own insistence as well...

It occurred to her that this was probably what Luz had been trying to tell her yesterday, not that she didn't think she could do it, but that they would need to take a break because she would be much too sore to continue on today.

She pressed the heels of her hands to her eyes as she remembered what Luz had said yesterday.

_‘Okay, we train tomorrow; no matter what’_

She knew, she definitely knew this was going to happen and had let Amity run herself right off a cliff with her mouth; she groaned to herself. 

She wasn’t going to get out of this by hiding in her bedroom, well, she could, but she’d have to face Luz eventually if she wanted to continue training, and she did, though not at this very moment.

She’d made this bed, now she would have to lie in it. 

With a pained grunt, Amity made herself climb out of bed and get ready for the day to come, grabbing her training clothes and hiding them in her skirts before finally leaving her bedroom to face the day.

Her siblings were already sitting at the table having their breakfast when she walked into the room on stiff and sore legs that protested every step she took, wincing. 

Edric snorted to himself and Emira just giggled.

“What?” Amity barked, looking between her snickering siblings as she plopped herself down at the table.

“Nothing!” The two chirped much too quickly to be believable. 

Amity just grumbled and started to eat the food laid out in front of her, while she wasn’t exactly eager to get to training, she was eager to get away from her siblings, who both kept looking at her and each other between snickering to themselves.

“What?!” She finally growled again after five minutes of the same thing.

“You seem a little…,” Edric started.

“...sore, today,” Emira finished with a grin.

Amity narrowed her eyes at the two of them. They couldn’t possibly know, there was just no way they could know she had started sword training with Luz. 

“I am, I fell harder than I thought I did,” she said, turning back to her food, ignoring her brother’s quiet snickering.

“I’m surprised your ‘guard’ didn’t catch you…” Emira was smirking at her and Amity can't even begin to guess what her sister seems to think based on that comment. Her brows furrowed between her eyes as she looked at her sister who was giving her the most salacious smirk she’d ever seen and it made her frown. 

“Okay, what are you talking about?” She couldn’t stand the knowing looks the two were giving her.

“We know, Mittens.” Edric only grinned at her.

“What, exactly, do you know?” she growled, stabbing at a piece of fruit sitting in front of her with her fork. 

“About you and your little guard, what you were really up to on your ‘walk’.” Emira set her chin in her palm and is still giving her that infuriating smirk.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about…,” she started but the twins are both giving her tired, but amused smiles and Amity was starting to sweat. 

“Aw, come on, Amity.” Edric snorted. “It was obvious what’s going on. You didn’t want us to come, you were gone for hours…”

“Impressive, by the way…” Her sister cocked a brow and pointed at her.

“You came home all sore, sweaty, and disheveled…,” he went on. “It’s obvious to any idiot what’s going on,” Edric huffed and Emira shot him a disbelieving look but didn’t say anything.

Amity clenched her hands into the skirt of her dress. How the hell had they found out? She had been so careful, she thought anyway. 

“Please don’t tell, Bump…,” she mumbled, shoulders sucked up to her ears. The twins shared a look.

“We would never do that,” Edric assured her and Emira nodded.

“You’re a grown woman, these things are bound to happen…,” she trailed off.

Amity looked up at them, relieved at their words, though Emira’s confused her a bit.

“But…,” Emira trailed off, cheeks a little pink. “How was it?” she asked quietly and Amity cocked a brow.

“Um… tiring,” she admitted. “I didn’t expect stamina to play such a large part, though I should have guessed, I didn’t realize I’d be this sore either…” She rubbed at her arms as she looked back up at the twins. 

“Ah, yes, you gotta work on your stamina.” Edric nodded knowingly, crossing his arms. Emira rolled her eyes at him. 

“Luz said as much…” Amity frowned. 

“Was it like you expected, or?” Emira asked curiously. She’d always wondered if her sister would trust her enough to share such things with her when the day finally came. 

Amity pursed her lips, she didn’t think her siblings would be this interested in her desire to learn swordplay but she certainly didn’t mind, so long as they kept their word, which was hard to get, but once had, was neigh unbreakable. 

“It wasn’t exactly what I expected,” she admitted. “But it was still quite enjoyable, I learned a lot, and I’m looking forward to our next meeting… when I’m not so sore that is. Maybe I’ll be able to keep up with her.”

Edric choked on the water in his mouth.

“She was that good, was she?” Emira cackled.

“She’s very skilled, yes.” Amity nodded, “A little rougher than I expected…,” Amity grumbled, remembering all the times Luz had jabbed her with that stupid stick while trying to goad her into attacking. She had bruises all across her torso from the knight’s rough handling. 

“I don't think I want to hear any more of this…” Edric made a face and Amity looked at him confused while her sister just laughed.

“She had a good time, Ed, leave her alone.” Emira waved him off. “Girl had some muscles on her, I imagine she was a little rougher than our Mittens would be accustomed. She is really cute though…,” Emira admitted. 

“What?” Amity blinked at that, what did Luz being cute have to do with sword fighting?

“I just mean I understand why your interest in sex was finally piqued with that woman, she’s quite attractive.” Emira shrugged and then watched in fascination as her sister's confused face slowly turned pink than red and then even redder as a look of scandalized outrage took over her face, mouth hanging open in an odd mix of rage and shock.

“What!?” She screamed, standing up and slamming her hands on the table, completely forgetting about how sore she was for a moment. Her face was so hot she could feel her heartbeat in her cheeks. 

The twins both jumped, glancing at each other with wide eyes before turning back to her.

“You think Luz and I were…?!” she stopped herself, they were alone in the dining hall but that didn't mean there wasn't a servant nearby who could hear. “That is NOT what happened!” 

“Then… what were you two doing that left you all…” Edric made a motion with his hands. “Sore and tired and sweaty?” he asked and if possible Amity turned even redded now that she heard what she said in a whole new light. 

“Luz is teaching me swordplay!” she hissed.

“Swordplay…,” Emira mumbled and was going over their conversation in her head. “So you’re not shagging the cute guard?”

“NO!” Amity was so red she could double for a tomato. 

“Well, that’s not half as interesting.” Edric pouted.

“Kind of disappointing… Oh, can I have her then?” Emira cocked her head. 

“Ugh!” Amity turned and stomped out of the room, heading for the front doors without a backward glance. 

She had her training clothes tucked away under her dress and didn’t even stop as she passed through the gate where Luz and Jerbo were standing at attention and she didn't even spare Luz a look. Luz instead shared one with the other guard before shrugging and following after her.   
They walked along in quiet for several moments, Amity stewing and Luz watching her grumble to herself.

“Are you okay?” Luz cocked her head at the very obviously irritated noble who was stalking down the road not paying attention to anything, much less where she was going. 

“I’m fine!” she snapped. She couldn’t even bear to look at Luz after what her brother and sister had said. She only went a few more feet before she noticed the footsteps following along behind her had stopped. She turned to, reluctantly, look at Luz, standing a few feet away and frowning. 

“I thought we’d come to an understanding about treating each other with some basic respect, especially if we’re going to be teaching each other…” Luz pursed her lips as they locked eyes and Amity took a deep breath. Her embarrassment with her siblings wasn’t Luz’s fault, though now she finds it hard to look at the other woman without seeing what her sister must see.

Tall, lean, and solidly built with bright, brown eyes, dark brown hair, and soft features despite her outwardly rugged appearance. Amity mentally shook herself, damnit Emira! 

“You’re right… forgive me… I don’t want to discuss it, but I’m fine,” she mumbled, looking at the ground.

Luz made an agreeing noise as she walked over to Amity.

“Well, are you ready to train then?” She crossed her arms and Amity grimaced, which only made Luz grin. “What’s wrong… are you maybe… sore?” Luz asked in a knowing tone that made Amity’s cheek turn pink for the second time that day as she pointedly refused to look at Luz. 

“A… bit…” she admitted, making Luz chuckle. “But yes, I’m ready…” She nodded. She knew this was her punishment for getting ahead of herself yesterday. Luz just smirked and nodded as they made their way to the same clearing they had trained in yesterday. She made quick work of changing and received the training sword from Luz.

Her hands protested the tight grip on the hilt, rubbing on her new blisters painfully as she practiced strikes against Luz, who blocked them effortlessly with her own sword. 

“I think that’s enough,” Luz called after no more than ten minutes of watching Amity wince with every movement.

“What?” Amity looked up at her with wide gold eyes. “We just started!” she exclaimed and Luz shrugged. 

“I said we’d train today no matter what, as you requested,” she reminded with a smirk, making Amity frown. “...but I never said how long we’d train for…,” she trailed off, the corners of her lips quirked up into a smile and as annoyed as Amity was by that smile and tone, she was more grateful than anything. She had insisted they train and Luz had indulged her, she was well within her right to make her train till she dropped, but she didn’t. “You're too sore and tired to train. I told you, if you overwork your body you’re going to end up hurt, I was trying to tell you that yesterday…, but you insisted.” She planted a hand on her hip as she gazed over at Amity, who flushed at that, embarrassed, looking elsewhere.

Luz was the one teaching her because she actually knew what she was doing and she probably needed to listen to her if she was to get anywhere with this.

“You’re right, I’m sorry… I should have waited to hear what you were going to say yesterday before I jumped to conclusions…,” she conceded, crossing her arms. 

“Ya know, you wouldn’t have to say sorry to me so much if you just listened before you started yelling at me,” Luz chuckled. She suddenly knew how Eda had felt many times over the last five years, and Amity scowled; face pink. 

“Three is hardly a lot,” she huffed.

“Yeah, but I get the impression that you don’t apologize very often…” Luz grinned and Amity’s face only darkened further but she said nothing; Luz wasn’t wrong. The knight just winked and Amity huffed, turning her head away as her face turned red, thinking again about her and her sibling’s misunderstanding this morning. Luz seemed to sense her discomfort, even if she wasn’t entirely sure why. 

“It’s okay.” Luz smiled. “I did the same thing when I first started, Eda tried to warn me too, but I didn’t listen. She made me train all day... It’s a learning process.” She shrugged. “We should head back so you can rest,” Luz said, sheathing her sword and walked over to lean on a tree, facing away from Amity so she could change. 

The noble watched her back for a moment before changing as quickly as her sore muscles would allow. 

Amity was silent for the walk back, caught up in her own thoughts, and occasionally glancing at Luz from the corner of her eye. 

Maybe, objectively, the knight was attractive, but Amity was looking for so much more in a partner, and unlike her parents, those things weren’t wealth and power. Kindness and intelligence were at the top of her list, maybe someone who liked to read and learn as much as she did. She pushed those thoughts aside for now as the manor came into view.

She had other things to occupy her attention, and now that she thought about it, she still had her own end of their bargain to keep.

“I’ll meet you tonight in the stables for your lessons,” Amity said without preamble, making Luz turn to her, confused.

“Huh?” was the eloquent reply that made Amity roll her eyes. 

“You want to learn runic, your first lesson starts tonight,” she informed, and before Luz could think of anything to say, they were standing at the front gate and Amity was walking through them toward the manor, leaving Luz at the gate with Jerbo.

“Huh?” was all she could say again as she watched her disappear inside. 

~ ~ 

Luz hummed to herself as she laid back in the hay, one leg crossed over her knee to hold up the basic runics book she was still trying to decipher. A small fire she had built was burning nearby, lighting up the small stall with its warm glow. 

The sun had set not too long ago, but being summer, that meant it was still fairly late, how late she wasn’t sure, but she wasn’t tired anyway and she was still waiting for Amity. King was snuggled up to her side, his massive head thrown across her stomach. She scratched the space between his ears and horns.

“Are you going to behave when Amity gets here?” she asked, eyeing the beast, who slid a single rust-colored eye open to look at her but said nothing, naturally. “You better,” she warned and King snorted, like a petulant child. 

Luz rolled her eyes at him.

“Are you in here talking to yourself?” 

Luz looked up and smiled as Amity appeared, a book and some parchment under one arm and a quill and inkpot held in the other. 

“I was talking to King.” She gestured to the wolf who growled at her before getting up and stalking away to the other side of the stall in a huff. “He’s grumpy…” she shrugged and scooted over to make room for Amity, who looked disdainfully at the pile of hay before sighing and sitting herself down near her. 

“Where did you even get that… thing?” Amity eyed the massive wolf out of the corner of her eye. King growled in response without looking at her. 

“He’s my buddy!” Luz insisted. “He was following around my mentor and, I dunno, we bonded, so when I set out on my own he came with me,” Luz explained and Amity hummed.

“Are you ready?” she turned to Luz who was looking at her with a wide smile and bright eyes. 

“Yes!” was the eager reply. 

Amity nodded and couldn’t help but smile as they cracked open the beginner runic book and Amity wrote down the basic runes. The main elements that all other runes were built on.

Luz was a quick study and memorized the base elements and their runes quickly, jotting them down and Amity couldn’t help but admire her beautiful penmanship. Just another strange thing about the woman to add to an ever-growing list. 

“I’m surprised you don’t know any of these, usually the first thing someone training to be a knight does is learn runic for the enchanting aspects of fighting.” Amity looked up from the book and looked at Luz, who had her nose buried in another, one with a dark brown cover and gold inlay on the spine as she jotted notes in its margins. “I hope that isn’t a book from the archives you are defacing either…”

“No,” Luz chuckled. “I bought this, and I never bothered learning since I couldn’t do magic until recently…,” she said distractedly as she finished writing whatever she was in the book.

“What do you mean you couldn’t do magic until recently?” Amity’s brows furrowed between her eyes.

“I’m human, I don’t have a bile sac,” Luz finally looked up at her. “I can’t absorb the natural magic of the world like a witch can, so I had to get creative…” Luz grinned at her. 

“How do you do magic then?” Amity tilted her head. 

“I’ll show you!” Luz perked up excitedly as she took the inkpot and a piece of parchment and carefully inked a glyph onto the paper, it began to glow in a bright blinding light.

“Ta~da!” she grinned. 

“I’ve never seen a light spell cast like that before…,” Amity mumbled in awe at the glowing paper. “Do all humans do magic this way?” she turned her gaze back to Luz, who frowned and shrugged.

“I dunno, I learned from this book.” she gestured to the heavy, ancient tome in her hands, turning it around to show Amity the glyph on the paper. She took it and looked over the pages. The glyphs made no sense to her, she’d never seen such a thing before, but the runes around them explained just what it was and what it did. Or rather, what elements were incorporated within which told her exactly what spells she was looking at. 

She explained it to Luz, holding the book to her.

“The runes around this glyph read as ‘mirage’, which means it’s a basic illusory spell,” she explained. 

“Ohhh,” Luz jotted down the runes on the paper she is using to take notes. Luz, for her faults, is an apt and studious person. 

“If humans don’t have magic, how did they ever almost destroy witch kind?” Amity asked, which made Luz’s head shoot up, eyes wide.

“What?” she blinked. 

Luz was the only human Amity had ever met, and there really wasn’t much information on them. Just the stories their parents or grandparents told about the round-eared race that had tried to push witch kind to the brink of extinction by overpopulating their own kind and trying to push witch’s out until they had begun to push back in equal measures of fire and blood. It seemed like a far-flung tale to Amity, considering humans were all but extinct, and according to Luz, couldn’t do magic, and she told the human as much. 

“Humans are all but extinct, huh?” she repeated, frowning. She had kind of started to figure that out considering that the more she thought about it, she couldn’t remember ever seeing another human outside her mother, who told stories about humans and everything they did, but Luz had never thought to ask where they were and now any information she could have gotten from her mother was unreachable. 

“You didn’t know?” Amity started at her with wide eyes as Luz shook her head.

“Before I started traveling with Eda I just lived alone in the woods with my mother, after she died it was just me for two years.” she shrugged. “I was too busy trying to figure out where my next meal was coming from to worry about why I never saw other humans.”

“Oh…” Amity wasn't sure what else to say to that. 

“It’s okay…” Luz smiled, but even Amity could see it was not half as strong as it was before. 

“Here.” Amity handed her the book. “Now that you have the basics that the book skipped over you should be able to decipher this.” Luz took it and hummed as she distracted herself with deciphering the runes on the page.

After a while, Luz finally jerked up.

“I think I got this! It’s the glyph for an ice enchantment!” she exclaimed with a grin. Amity looked over it and the runes did seem to agree with Luz’s assessment. 

After a few minutes of carefully studying the glyph, Luz took the quill and carefully inked the glyph onto a blank piece of parchment, and hesitated only a moment before tapping it. Ice erupted across the paper, thick and heavy in a symphony of crystalline sounds. 

Luz didn’t expect how heavy it would be, and the slippery, solid chunk of ice paper fell from her hand, Amity jerked out of the way as it landed where her leg had been only a moment earlier, a sharp corner sunk into the ground. Amity winced as she thumped onto the ground, sending painful vibrations through her whole body but especially the tender raw spots on the palms of her hands as she caught herself.

“Sorry!” Luz grimaced as she held out a hand to Amity, who took it, again, wincing, though Luz didn’t seem to notice as she helped her to stand. “I didn’t expect it to be so heavy… or slippery.” she chuckled, scratching the back of her head sheepishly. 

“It’s alright, Luz,” Amity assured her as they both settled themselves back down in the hay pile. “It did work,” Amity said, looking down at the paper. “You are picking up the basic runes rather quickly…,” she praised and Luz smiled brightly at her. 

“Well, I do love to read… though usually, I’m just rereading Azura…” she mumbled and Amity blinked at her.

“Azura, the good knight?” she asked and Luz turned to her with wide eyes.

“Yeah!, do you read it too?!” Luz leaned in closer, excited.

“I’ve...read them…,” she hedged, cheeks pink. She had them all and had read them so many times now she could probably recite them from memory.

“Oh, which one is your favorite?”

“I’m partial to the third in the series…” a small smile pulled at her lips.

“Oh, I think the fifth is my favorite,” Luz hummed thoughtfully. 

“Ah, I haven’t had a chance to read it yet…” Amity frowned, looking down at her hands. It took a long time for books to be published and she hadn’t been quick enough to get her hands on a copy when the first batch had come out. 

“Do you want to borrow mine?” Luz asked and Amity’s head shot up.

“You have a copy?” she asked hopefully and Luz grinned.

“I do, I couldn't carry a lot when I was traveling, space being a premium and all, but whenever the new ones came out I would sell the old one to a bookshop to make room for the new one.” she leaned over and dug through her bag before pulling out a book with a familiar green binding, grinning. “I wish I could have them all to reread whenever I want, but…” she shrugged.

“I have all the old ones…,” Amity found herself saying. “If you’d like to reread one of them…,” she trailed off. 

“I’ll keep it in mind, thanks.” Luz smiled and handed her the book.

Amity winced as the book’s spine hit her palm and Luz noticed this time. She sat up fully, setting the book aside, and grabbed one of Amity’s hands, making her jerk, looking at Luz with wide, surprised eyes.

“Ah, sorry! May I?” she held out a hand and Amity blinked at it for a moment before, reluctantly, setting her hand in Luz’s, who turned her hand over to look at her palm and frowned at the large blisters, several of which had popped and oozed across her skin and were covered in dirt from her fall moments earlier. She took Amity’s other hand and looked at her palm, finding much the same. 

She hummed as she let go of Amity’s hand and leaned over to her bag, digging through it for several moments before coming back with a small glass vile full of pale blue liquid and some strips of bandage.

“This will help with pain and to heal them quicker so long as you keep them clean,” she said as she popped the cork out of the vial and took hold of one of Amity’s hands again, and poured a drizzle of the liquid into her palm before carefully setting the vial aside and gently rubbed the liquid across the blisters. It was cold and numbed the raw spots of skin, but as cold as it was, Amity’s face was hot as Luz administered the tender care. 

The light of the fire camouflaged the color erupting across her cheeks as Luz delicately rubbed the liquid in with gentle circles of her thumb before taking a strip of bandage laid across her knee and wrapping it snugly around Amity’s hand before repeating the process with the other hand. 

Once both hands were bandaged, Luz sat back, satisfied.

“There ya go!” Luz grinned as she corked the vial and held it out to Amity who blinked at it before taking the proffered bottle. “Use that, and when it hurts just rub some in and cover them for a few hours. Eventually, they're going to callus, like mine, but for now, it will be a little painful, sword training is just like that,” she admitted and held up a hand, and even just with her eyes, Amity can see the hardened skin on Luz’s palm. She shouldn’t, knows she shouldn’t, but she can’t stop herself as she reached up and ran her fingertips across the skin of the hand Luz was holding up to her. Her palms were rough, with callus’ at every junction of her fingers and across the meat at the base of the digits. There were a few soft places in between and Amity ran her finger through the hollow junctions of soft, warm skin at the center of her palm. Almost in a trance, but it was broken when Luz jerked back and Amity flushed, about to apologize but Luz only giggled.

“Sorry, it tickled.” she smiled and Amity swallowed thickly. 

“You should keep this for your use,” Amity managed to get out around a tongue that suddenly felt too swollen to speak correctly and tried to hand back the vial of magical liquid once she could get a grip on herself, but Luz just shook her head.

“Naw, I went and got that for you, I knew you'd be needing it.” Luz shook her hand and smiled. Amity didn't know what to say to that. Luz could have easily just told her what she needed, she didn’t need to get it herself. 

“O-okay…,” she mumbled, slipping it in her dress pocket as they sat in the warm, dim, yellow, and red light of the fire. Luz’s brown, half-lidded eyes shined like embers in the flickering light that was casting soft shadows across her face. Amity swallowed. “Thank you…” 

Luz smiled brightly at her in response and Amity felt a hard twinge in her chest that immediately set her heart to beating faster in her ears and her palms grew sweaty. 

_‘Oh no’_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Amity just ran right off gay cliff


	10. Chapter 10

Amity had a problem.

A tall, cute, well-read, sword-wielding problem. 

It’d been three weeks since Amity had started her training lessons with Luz, and every day seemed to grow longer than the last when she was with the knight, yet at the same time they were not near long enough, and there were days when before she knew it, the whole day had passed in training and they had to head back to the manor before Bump caught them, or they were knee-deep in runes when the sun started to rise and she realized that she had been in the stables all night. 

She was infatuated and falling fast. 

It was like running down a steep hill. She was managing to keep up at first, but then her legs were falling out from under her and she was tumbling downward without an end in sight and hitting every rock on the way down. 

With every day that went by, she realized just how grossly inaccurate her initial judgments of Luz were. 

She could be oblivious, and years of living on the road had made her blunt, but she wasn’t filthy or a cretin, far from it. Luz was clever and quick-witted, easily able to keep pace even with her siblings, who were considered to be quite the silver-tongued pair. After she gave herself away to them, because what they thought was going on was so much worse, they insisted on occasionally inviting themselves to Amity’s training sessions, which annoyed her to bits, especially the deeper she fell, and the two were imposing themselves on her time with the knight. 

She was well-read and studious, their late night lessons in runes were progressing fast, Luz picked things up quickly and soon she wouldn't need Amity at all, which plucked painfully at the chords in her chest, but she tried to ignore it, they weren’t there yet. 

She was as far from graceless as one could be; when the situation called for it. 

When she wasn’t paying attention she was like a bull in a glass shop, but with a sword? Amity c think of no one with more grace or finesse, except maybe Lilith.

Her favorite new hobby as of late had become watching Luz practice in the training field from the third-floor balcony on her days off, as she was doing now.

It was the hottest day of summer they’d had so far, even as they edged further and further nearer to autumn. Luz had even abandoned her signature violet tunic and was hacking away at the training dummies in her trousers and cloth bindings wrapped around her chest. Her already dark skin had grown darker over the weeks of being outside and her hair was matted to her face with sweat as she jumped around, slashing hacking at her inanimate foe. 

The house could catch fire at this moment and Amity wouldn’t notice or care for that matter. 

She was of course also watching for educational purposes, though Luz did things that Amity was nowhere near ready to even attempt if she liked all her limbs attached to the places they currently were.

So yes, educational. She was.... learning…

Amity rested her chin in her hand as she watched Luz wipe at her forehead with the back of her arm. Maybe she would appreciate it if Amity took her some water?

“Enjoying the view?” 

Amity only barely managed to suppress her scream as Emira appeared at her side, grinning at her.

“What are you doing here?” Amity snapped at her, frowning.

“Last I checked I lived here,” Emira’s smart reply only made her younger sister scowl. “Nevermind that though, what are you doing here?” she asked knowingly as she glanced down at the yard below where Luz was mopping sweat off her face with her tunic. “As if I didn’t know…,” she snickered under her breath. 

“What do you want, Emira?” Amity sighed. There was no point even trying to deny the accusation, her siblings had seen her become a tongue-tied mess a time too many in the knight’s presence to believe for one moment that they would buy it. 

“I can’t spend time with my favorite baby sister?” Emira asked innocently, batting her eyes at the youngest Blight sibling. Amity just gave her a long-suffering look and Emira rolled her eyes. “Ed’s being a pain in my butt, so I thought I’d see what you were doing... and here you are… watching, what you’d like to be doing,” she snickered and Amity turned a bright red the moment her sister’s words registered.

“You are the worst,” Amity hissed as her sister laughed at her.

“I don’t hear any denials…,” she drawled, watching amused as Amity’s face turned a bright scarlet. The younger woman only growled at her. “Aw, come on, Mittens, I know you aren’t trying to be obvious, but anyone with eyes can see how you feel about Luz.” she smiled. “Well, except Luz,” she chuckled. Amity bit her lip as she looked down at the knight.

“Do you think… she’s pretending not to notice as a way of trying not to hurt my feelings?” Amity asked after a moment as she looked down at her hands folded atop the railing. Emira frowned at that.

“Well, she lived with her mom till she was ten right? Then she was alone for a while and the last five she was on the road training with another knight, I think she’s just oblivious, I don’t think she’s ever been around enough people in a social setting to know the difference between friends and potential lovers.” Emira shrugged. The last part made Amity pink but her sister made sense. 

By Luz’s own admission she had never been around many people and she and her mentor had never stayed in one place for very long so she’d never had any friends. 

“Why don’t you just tell her how you feel?” Emira frowned, leaning down on the railing beside Amity.

“I can’t…”

“Why not?” The elder Blight daughter cocked a brow.

“Luz is… amazing…,” she admitted. “She’s so kind, intelligent, and…” She cut herself off, knowing she was rambling by the way her sister grinned at her. “Outside Willow, there is no one else I enjoy being with as much as her, and if I tell her and she doesn’t feel the same… or worse, she’s disgusted, I don’t know what I’d do!” Amity ran a hand through her hair, a new habit she had picked up from a certain twitchy knight. 

“I seriously doubt disgusted is an option, I flirt with her all the time… just for fun,” she quickly added when Amity shot her a sideways look. “...and she’s never reacted anyway but adorably embarrassed. I think you’re pretty safe there.” She tried to reassure her.

“That still doesn’t mean she would feel the same…,” Amity trailed off under her breath. 

“But what if you tell her and she does feel the same?’ Emira questioned.

Amity gripped the banister in her hands, biting her lip.

“It’s not worth the risk…,” she mumbled and Emira frowned, she could tell that she wasn’t going to budge Amity from the position she’d taken, and honestly, she couldn’t blame her sister. Luz was funny, smart, and quite attractive, but more than that, the two seemed to have a lot of interests in common and got along pretty well after their initial rocky start, as Luz had told it, and Amity had never had many friends or people to be close with, it made sense she wanted to hold tight to the ones she did, even if Emira thought she was being stupid about it.

That didn’t mean Emira still couldn’t help nudge them in the right direction and see what happened. Amity needed someone like Luz: a happy excitableness to her sister’s calm astureness.

“If that’s what you want… So… can I have her then?” she smirked teasingly as Amity whipped to face her, melancholy replaced with shock, but that quickly morphed into rage.

“No, you can’t have her!” she all but screamed at her sister, face twisted up in rage. Emira only grinned and her amber eyes glanced down below. Amity blinked and followed her gaze. 

Down below them, Luz was looking up at them curiously. Seeing that they were both looking at her Luz waved, grinning. 

“Looking good, Luz!” Emira called with a wave then started to laugh as the ham of a knight lifted her arms and began to flex at them. “Oh my,” Emira laughed as she fanned at her face while Amity turned bright red watching the guard. 

_‘It should be a crime to have an abdomen as defined as that.’_

Emira whistled and they could see Luz laugh sheepishly, dropping an arm back to her side while the other scratched the back of her head, embarrassed now. 

“You know, you’re kind of selfish, Mittens,” Emira sighed as she turned to walk back inside and Amity pulled her eyes off Luz to look at her sister’s retreating back. “You won’t pursue her, but I can’t have her? What a waste...,” she lamented. 

Amity made a strangled noise of rage and Emira darted off, laughing to herself.

Once she was gone, Amity turned back to look down at Luz, who was looking up at the balcony curiously, but once Amity’s eyes were back on her she smiled and waved. Amity couldn't help but smile and wave back.

“She’s such a dork…,” she huffed a laugh before turning and going inside. She couldn’t stand out here and watch now that Luz knew she was there.

Ah well. 

~ ~ 

“You’re ridiculous, you know that?” was the first thing Amity said as she walked into the stables that night.

“I know,” Luz laughed as she looked up at her from her place nestled in the haystack as Amity settled herself carefully beside her. “Em seemed to be having a good time.” she grinned and wagged her eyebrows. Amity made a strangled noise and smacked the human with her nook, which only made her laugh more. King sat curled up in the corner, purposefully ignoring them,

Though, the idea that Luz had been showing off for her sister left a bitter taste in her mouth. Emira was very obviously flirtatious, and Luz had noticed. Yet, she continued to remain aggravatingly oblivious to Amity’s own affections, though she was far less… direct than her sister. 

Which made her once more think that maybe Luz was simply pretending not to notice in an attempt to spare her feelings.

Not that she was even trying to be obvious about them!

She sighed to herself and then Luz nudged her gently, making her look up at the knight, who eyed her worriedly. 

“Are you okay?” she asked. 

Affection bubbled up in Amity’s gut at that. Luz was just too sweet sometimes. 

“I’m fine,” she nodded, but she certainly didn’t look fine to Luz. She’d started to become pretty good at reading Amity over the last few weeks. The way little lines appeared between her brows when she was frustrated, or the way her shoulders slumped when she was tired, or the way her pointed ears twitched and wiggled as a dull rosy color covered the starry splatter of freckles across her cheeks and nose when she was happy. She also knew when Amity was upset, a familiar pinchedness around her mouth and eyes, and she certainly looked upset right now. She much preferred when Amity smiled. 

The knight hummed thoughtfully before a sudden idea struck her and she grinned to herself

“Oh, I’ve been working on a new glyph, watch this!” She took the quill from the stack of supplies Amity had brought and with careful, smooth strokes, drew a new symbol on the paper, one Amity had never seen before, and she’d seen most of Luz’s glyphs she’d mastered over the last few weeks.

“Ready?” she asked, turning to look at her with a bright smile, firelight flickered in the reflection of deep brown eyes and all she could manage was to nod dumbly. 

Luz pressed her fingers over it and it glowed a bright jade green, lighting up the other woman’s face in its pale, verdant glow. She watched as a single stem grew from the paper, a single bud at its tip as it sprang up, unfurling into petals of bright magenta with a pale yellow center. 

“Plant magic…,” Amity mumbled. She’d seen her fair share, it was what Willow specialized in ever since they were children.

Luz plucked the single stem from the paper and held it between her fingers for a second before holding it out to Amity, who looked at it before her eyes flickered back up to Luz, who only smiled and held it out to her patiently. Amity reached up and took it, their fingers brushing. Even the most minimal contact with the knight's warm skin now made Amity tingle pleasantly, and had she not been so distracted at the moment she would have scolded herself. 

“Not especially useful in a fight so far but…,” she trailed off, watching that rosy hue spread across Amity’s face as her ears began to twitch against her will. “It has other uses.” she smiled as those golden, amber eyes flickered back to meet hers, and the pale pink darkened to a warm red.

“Thank you,” Amity mumbled quietly, a whisper in the otherwise empty stable. Surely King, if not Luz, could hear how hard her heart was hammering against her ribs. 

“Mhmm…” She picked up her runic book and flipped to where they had last left off the other night, almost through the whole thing. 

“You’ve made a lot of progress in your runic and magic…,” Amity said almost wistfully as she spun the flower between her fingers, if for no other reason than something to do with her hands; Luz looked at her curiously. She’d grown to adore this time with Luz out here. Even if it was in the dirty, old stables. Out here it was just the two of them in the quiet of the night, well, and King. Though, he tended to stay away from her, pouting in the corner when she appeared. 

Once Luz had mastered all the basics there would be no reason for her to come around at night.

"You won't need my help much longer," she finally said, dragging her eyes from the pristine, magenta pedals to look into deep, brown eyes. 

"Oh, don't worry, I'll still keep teaching you though," Luz was quick to assure her. Amity couldn't help the smile that pulled at her lips, nor the distinct melancholy that came along with it. 

“Thank you, I wasn’t worried about that though,” she huffed a laugh. Luz, always the thoughtful one. 

Luz frowned at how quickly Amity’s mood seemed to change from that soft, glowing smile to one tinted with disappointment that she couldn’t figure out. She started to say something but Amity beat her to it.

“Let’s just get to work, Luz.” She cracked open one of her more advanced runic books she had been showing things to her from last night. 

They were silent for a while, but Luz had never really been one for quiet, as Amity had learned, and after a short time she finally looked up from where her eyes had been carefully scanning the page of her book to look at Amity. Her head buried in a thick, leather-bound tome, face the picture of concentration. Usually, the two talked a lot more as they worked, but Amity seemed a little distant since she’d arrived, she was usually quiet, but there was a certain tension in her shoulders that Luz could easily see and she didn’t like it.

“So…,” she drawled, making golden eyes look up at her over the top of her book curiously. “I was thinkin’ we might start work on real sparring soon…,” she cocked her head in silent question of Amity’s thoughts on the matter. The book lowered and her eyes widened.

“Really?” she asked and Luz couldn’t bite back on the smile pulling at her lips at the hopeful lilt to the question, but nodded.

“Yeah, you can only hack so many training dummies to pieces, ya know? So I figured we could start that if you want...” 

“Yes!” Amity flushed as her loud voice bounced off the quiet stable walls. “I mean, yes, I do.” she nodded eagerly, but Luz wasn’t fooled. She could see the twitching in the noble's ears that spoke of how pleased she was by the idea.

“Great… we do need to get something first though.”

“Hm… what?” 

Luz just grinned.

~ ~ ~ 

“So… where are we going?” Emira asked the next morning as they walked outside Blight manors gates, escorted by Luz.

“The blacksmiths. I need my own training sword so Luz and I can spar, it’s too dangerous for her to use her regular sword against me.

“Though, I wouldn’t hit you!” Luz insisted.

“I’d still rather just be sure a stray shot didn’t promise to take off my arm all the same,” Amity huffed and Luz stuck out her tongue.

“That sounds boring.” Emira crossed her arms and Amity scowled. 

“You were the one that insisted on coming with us!” 

The town was crowded, much as it was every day but they encountered no trouble as they made their way toward a familiar-looking building with a tower of smoke drifting slowly out its stacks. There was a breeze today, blowing the black cloud away from the city. 

“You’ve been here before?” Emira looked over at her sister as they followed along behind Luz, leading the way; Amity shook her head.

“No, but Luz comes often, she’s good friends with the smith from what she’s said.” Amity shrugged and Emira hummed.

Luz could see the smith, stationed as she usually was, in front of the billowing furnace. Shoveling coal into the gaping mouth of flame in her leather apron and gloves, mask pulled down to protect her face. 

“Hey, Viney!” Luz called with a grin. 

The smith looked up and set the shovel aside.

“Hey, Luz!” Her voice was muffled from behind the mask before she flipped it up and grinned at the three of them. “Who are your friends?” Viney cocked her head, looking at the two Blight sisters.

“This is Amity and Emira Blight,” Luz introduced.

“Ah, right, still working for the Blight’s then?” Viney crossed her arms as Luz nodded.

“Have we met before?” Amity asked, eyes narrowed, there was something so familiar about the blacksmith but Amity just couldn’t put her finger on it. Viney just shrugged.

“Maybe, I’ve been here a while and other places…” She grinned.

The space behind her is curiously quiet and Amity glanced at her sister only to blink in confusion as Emira stood there, silent and face a strange shade of pink that Amity had never seen before.

“Em?” she nudged the older witch, who jolted out of her apparent trance.

“Oh, yes, hello…” she directed a wobbly smile at the other woman who grinned back as she waved. Amity just stared at her sister in confusion.

“Hey! So, what can I do for ya, Luz?” she turned back to the knight.

“Amity here needs a training sword so we can spar, I’m teaching her swordplay,” the knight explained and Viney nodded.

"Well, we got 'em, follow me…" She waved them into the shop behind her. The knight quickly followed the blacksmith into the shop and Amity moved to follow but stopped short when she noticed Emira, still rooted to the ground, watching the place the other two women had disappeared,

“Emira!” Amity called and the older Blight jumped, looking at her with wide, surprised eyes.

“Huh, what?” 

“What is wrong with you?” Amity asked eyes narrowed at the pink staining her sister’s face and the weird jittery way she had greeted the smith. It didn’t take her more than a few seconds, as she watched Emira’s eyes dart to the open shop door. “Oh…I see.” Amity’s face split into a knowing grin and her sister’s only darkened further.

“Shut up,” Emira hissed and Amity giggled to herself.

“Not on your life,” she laughed as she turned and followed Luz and Viney into the shop. Emira followed reluctantly. 

“Over here!” Luz called from a wall of training weapons.

“These are all the training swords we’ve got.” Viney held her hand out to the wall.

“What do you think?” Amity looked up at Luz as she looked them over. Luz was the one who knew what she was doing after all.

“Well, I’m teaching you longsword, that’s what I know, so any of these three would be fine.” she pointed to the three training weapons hung on the wall. Amity hummed, considering her options.

Behind them, Emira leaned on a shelf, trying her best to appear calm and nonchalant. 

“As the only blacksmith in town you must get a lot of business…,” she said casually, at least it must have sounded casual to her, but Amity knew her sister, and the warble to her voice was never present in her usual flirtations before. Also, was that the best she could come up with? Her sister and Edric would be hearing about this later. 

Viney looked up at the older Blight and nodded.

“Usually, but a whole lot more since the Emperor started his expansion campaign to the other Isles. Soldiers stop in here anytime they ship in or out and I make large batches that get sent over for those already fighting.”

“Ah… of course…” 

Amity snorted and Luz looked at her curiously, the shorter noble just shook her head.

“Later,” she promised, and Luz nodded. 

“Is that what the war is about? He’s expanding the empire?” Luz turned to Viney who laughed but nodded.

“I forget, until recently you’ve been way further inland and out in the woods hunting monsters for the last five years. Yeah, he wants to ‘expand the prosperous and vibrant culture of the Isles’ or so he says,” she said the last bit quietly and Luz nodded. She’d heard plenty about the Emperor from Eda, nothing good, though it appeared she wasn’t the only one who shared the sentiment. 

“That must keep you… busy?” Emira asked and the smith nodded. Emira didn’t hear her sister snicker and Luz just looked at her curiously again. 

“For the most part, though I still find time to hang out with this big goof and her other two cohorts,” she punched Luz in the arm with a grin.

Luz beamed, even as she rubbed her now painfully stinging arm. She couldn’t help it, anytime Viney, Willow, or Gus said they liked to spend time with her. It was a far cry from how isolated she had been the last five years, though she had Eda and King and loved them both. it wasn’t the same as being around people her own age who looked at her as a friend as opposed to a master/apprentice relationship or her mutual, though conversationally one-sided companionship with King. 

Amity smiled at the grinning knight, glancing at her from the corner of her eye as she picked up one of the training blades for inspection. She wished she was able to spend more time with Luz and Willow. Augustus, or ‘Gus’ as he’d wanted to be called, had seemed nice, but Luz had much more freedom and time to work around the other two’s schedules at the shop and archives than Amity. Though, she would happily settle for the time just spent with Luz.

“I was thinking of picking up a weapon myself…” Emira trailed off, unsure where she was even going with that train of thought.

“Oh, what kind?” Viney cocked her head curiously, those dark green eyes fixed on Emira, who swallowed thickly. 

“Oh, I’m not sure… maybe you could make a suggestion...” The shelf the older Blight daughter had been leaning on suddenly collapsed under her elbow, and knocked over another shelf of crossbow bolts and arrows, the shelving itself smashed into a standing suit of plate armor and sent it toppling to the ground in a thunderous crash of metal that made them all wince.

Emira stared down at the mess, face turning dark red as her head whipped to look at the other three, all staring at the mess before they turned to stare back at her.

“I am so sorry!” she yelped, startling the smith, who held up a leather-clad hand.

“It’s okay, accidents happen…,” she said. Amity cleared her throat, taking the stout woman’s attention off her furiously reddening sister.

“I’ll take this one.” she held up the blade and Viney nodded and Amity quickly handed over the silver for it.

“I’m going to help Viney pick this up real quick, okay?” Luz mumbled to her and jerked a thumb over her shoulder at the smith as she started to pick up the shelves. Amity nodded and glanced over at her sister, standing by the door, a hand pressed over her tomato-red face.

“We’ll wait for you outside,” she mumbled and Luz nodded before scurrying over to help Viney, despite her protests.

“Come on,” Amity took her sister by the elbow and pulled her out the door with her new sword. 

The second it closed behind them the older woman groaned loudly into both her hands.

“Very smooth,” Amity agreed with the noise.

“I can’t believe I did that!” Emira moaned into her hands.

“I've seen you flirt with countless people from the highest classes of Boiling Isle society… what was that?” The tone of her voice was both amused and disbelieving.

“I don’t know!” Emira cried, dropping her hands from her still bright face. “I just saw her and my brain stopped working… like you with Luz,” She groaned again and Amity flushed as well now.

“You did make a mess in her shop…” Amity couldn’t help but make a little dig after that one at her about Luz.

“I’m never coming back here again!” she declared just as Luz walked out of the shop.

“What, how come? Viney said next time you came she’d help you pick a suitable starting weapon…” Luz looked at the older Blight curiously and just groaned again as she turned and headed back toward the manor, pulling the hood of her cloak violently down over her head.

“What’s going on?” Luz looked at her student curiously and Amity couldn’t help the rueful chuckle as she moved to follow her sister.

“You really are just oblivious…” She shook her head to herself as she flipped up the hood on her cloak. 

“Wh- What does that mean?” Luz quickly walked after the two. “Amity, what does that mean!?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am back! (like I didn't just spend the last month and a half writing a Viking AU)  
> updates for this will def be slower than how fast I was putting out "Immortal Devotion" at least until I'm able to really get back into it.
> 
> I've also gone back and edited the first 9 chapters(cause they needed it)


	11. Chapter 11

“You know, I’m kind of surprised,” Luz said as she blocked another downward strike of Amity’s training blade and flung it away with a flick of her wrist.

“You’ve met my sister, she’s a flirt,” Amity huffed as she stumbled backward, a little aggravated that Luz could so easily talk and keep her at bay at the same time so effortlessly while they sparred. They circled each other in the clearing where they trained, watching each other carefully, but Amity had become quite acquainted with Luz’s serious, concentrated face when they studied, and she knew the knight was thinking more about Viney and Emira’s interaction from the day before last after she had finally informed her of what had happened then really focussing on their spar. She had to remind herself that the knight was far more advanced, and in comparison to her, fighting with Amity was like dueling a child, but it still annoyed her. 

“Yeah, but she’s usually good at it though…,” Luz chuckled as Amity dashed forward again and their training blades locked together in a loud clang that echoed through the clearing. For Amity it was like running smack into a stone wall, Luz didn’t budge as she pressed against her. “What I meant though was, Viney didn’t really seem like her type is all,” she shrugged.

“And what do you think her type would be?” Amity grunted as she tried in vain to budge the knight from her stance to no avail; it was like she was made of solid stone!

Luz hummed before deftly sidestepping to the left and letting all Amity’s pent up force send her sprawling into the grass. She stood there, twirling her training blade and thinking as Amity spat out a piece of grass and hopped back to her feet.

“I dunno, I guess another rich noble?” she shrugged and Amity couldn’t help but roll her eyes.

“My sister doesn’t care about that kind of thing,” she said as they began to circle each other once more. “Though I was surprised too, I’ve never seen her act that way before, she is usually more calm and collected. I couldn’t say what kind of ‘type’ my sister is actually interested in…” She was cut short as Luz sprung forward and they exchanged a series of quick strikes before the knight darted back again. Luz hummed as she stepped in a wide circle around the noble, she was thinking. 

“What about you?” she asked curiously, and Amty cocked a brow at the question. “Do you have a type?” she clarified and watched, fascinated as Amity’s face started to turn colors and her other brow shot up into her hairline with the other. 

“I… I've never… I don’t...,” she stumbled over her half intelligible words as her eyes shot to look anywhere but at Luz. 

A mistake. 

She looked up just in time to catch Luz’s blade with her own.

“Don’t take your eyes off me,” she teased and Amity’s face turned redder, were it possible.

“Couldn’t if I tried…,” she mumbled, pushing back against Luz. 

“Not into the rich nobles either?” Luz asked, back to her earlier line of questioning. Amity couldn’t help but snort at that. 

“I don’t have to tell you how most nobles are, the only thing they're concerned with is their wealth and reputation, and I... Why are we only talking about me?” she yelped. “What about you?” she fired back. Anything to get herself out of this line of questioning that could lead nowhere good as she stared back into Luz’s mesmerizing brown eyes.

Luz’s face took on a thoughtful look as they continued to cross blades.

“I dunno, I’ve never really thought about it much. I never even had friends until recently.” she shrugged as she jumped back. Amity huffed and wiped the sweat off her brow with the back of her arm and looked at Luz curiously. This would be a good opportunity to gain a little insight... subtly. 

“Well, um…start with the basics… men or women?” 

Or not so subtly.

She tried not to let anything show on her face as Luz scratched her chin thoughtfully and shrugged.

“Either.” 

Amity felt a flicker of hope ignite in her chest, but she didn’t have time to dwell on it. 

Luz raised her blade and darted forward again, her blade crashed into Amity’s with crushing force that almost made her knees buckle. “What about you?” she asked, seemingly unaware of Amity’s struggle to keep herself standing as Luz bore down on her. She scoffed, though her breath was strained.

“Not men.” she frowned and Luz laughed as she tried to push the knight back with all her might but Luz only pushed further, exertion and heat made Amity shake as she was pushed back. 

“So, women?” Luz cocked her head. then grinned and suddenly jerked back and dropped, sweeping a leg under Amity, and the next thing she knew her back was in the grass and she was staring up at the bright, blue sky. Luz’s training blade struck the ground, buried in the dirt beside her neck, its cool metal brushed her skin as a shadow loomed over her, blocking the sun out of her eyes. 

Amity panted, looking up at the knight leaned over her and grinning as beads of sweat dripped down her forehead. 

“Oh wow... swords…,” she mumbled.

Luz reached out and tapped the tip of her finger to Amity’s nose.

“Boop, you lose.” 

Amity blinked up at her for a long handful of seconds before she swatted the hand away and mumbled something under her breath as Luz plopped down in the grass beside her to rest, leaving the blade where it lay, embedded into the dirt as Amity sat up. 

“Your reaction time needs work…” Luz smiled at her and Amity huffed, face flushed, but not just from the sun overhead.

“I didn’t expect you to do that,” she grumbled, rubbing the back of her head gently where it had collided with the ground. 

“Always expect the unexpected, ya never know what could kill you, or rob you.” Luz grinned. “A quote by the great Eda Clawthorne herself,” she chuckled and Amity froze, sudden realization of where she’d heard ‘Eda’ from smacked her in the face.

“Edalyn Clawthorne was your mentor?” Amity gaped at her and Luz blinked, seeing the sudden shift in Amity’s face. It seemed Amity had heard of the rogue witch knight too and she grimaced.

“Not everything you’ve heard is true… though yes, she did in fact lose a Hex’s hold ‘em tournament and walked away with nothing but her sword…and I do mean nothing.” Luz shuddered as she remembered that day. She’d only managed not to be wagered by disappearing with King into the crowd until the game had finished, then they’d had to rob a shop for clothes since Eda had bet and lost all the money they had; along with her dignity. 

“What? No, Luz, I just meant, my old teacher was Lilith Clawthorne,” she said and watched as Luz seemed to think for a second before her whole face lit up.

“Lily!?” she grinned.

“You know her?” Amity blinked.

“Well, I’ve never met her, but Eda talked about her a lot, usually to complain or tell an embarrassing story, but yeah!” She nodded. “I’ve always wanted to put a face to the name, where is she?” she asked and frowned when a melancholy looked settled over Amity’s face.

“The Emperor ordered her to go and fight in the war last year…,” she mumbled, tearing at the blades of grass beside her distractedly.

“Oh….” They sat there quietly for a few moments, but Luz never could stand quiet, especially an awkward quiet where Amity seemed to be sad. “Who are they fighting over there…?” She remembered her mother’s tails of a land across the sea. “Humans?” she asked and Amity looked up at her at that.

“No, I told you, aside from you that I know of, humans are extinct. Just other witches and monsters in the way of the Emperor’s expansion campaign.” she shrugged and watched Luz frown thoughtfully, eyes darting to look out at the ocean as its waves lapped at the sand. “You don’t know anything at all about humans?”

“Outside myself, not really, my mother used to tell me about the place she came from, somewhere across the sea, where other humans lived, but she never really talked about the people and only ever said a war was why she came here, and I can’t ask her anything now…” She drew her knees to her chest and set her chin in them, still not looking at Amity.

“Was she sick?” Amity couldn’t help but ask, curiosity got the better of her, as well a desire to drown out the heavy silence that now bore down on them like the bright sunlight.

Luz was silent for a long time before she finally spoke. “I don’t want to talk about it.” 

“Oh… Okay.”

After a few more minutes Luz finally sighed and dragged herself to her feet.

“We should get you back,” she said and pulled her training blade out of the dirt and sheathed it before she held a hand out to Amity.

“Right,” Amity mumbled as she slipped her hand into Luz’s and allowed the knight to pull her to her feet. 

She made quick work of changing and handed her training blade to Luz. There was no way she could keep it in the manor without a member of the staff finding it, though she trusted Luz to take good care of it. 

The walk back through town was much quieter than it usually was. Amity glanced up at her from the corner of her eye as they walked. Luz’s face was pinched in that way Amity had come to associate with a certain melancholy and cursed herself for ever asking that question, of course that would be a tender spot. 

She chewed her lip thoughtfully as they walked when a sudden idea struck her, though whether or not it would work was up for debate.

“Luz?” she called, looking up at her.

“Hmm?” Luz glanced at her.

“I need to go to the archives tomorrow, would you escort me there?” 

“Oh, sure,” she bobbed her head in agreement. “I need to take back the books I have anway. Gus said they should be getting some new manuscripts on ancient enchantment techniques, I wanna do some more research into it. I’m starting to think that the way I do it might be some ancient witch way, maybe before they could draw on the natural energy around them, what do you think?” She looked down at her curiously and Amity nodded.

“It’s possible, otherwise why have books about it?”

“Right?” Luz threw up her hands and Amity smiled to herself. For someone who had dedicated their life to fighting, Luz was always the scholarly kind; just one of the things Amity adored about her. 

They parted ways at the gates of Blight manor with a silent agreement to see each other the next morning.

She had barely finished changing when her bedroom door flung open, making her jump as her sibling’s stuck their heads in.

“Hey, Mittens!” Edric grinned.

“How was training?” Emira asked after they had stepped into the room and closed the door behind them. “Was Luz rough with you?” she asked with a salacious smirk that made Amity turn four shades of bright red as Edric snickered at her behind his hand.

“Knock over any suits of armor today?” she snapped back. It had the desired effect and Emira pinked, which made Edric look between the two of them curiously.

“What suit of armor?” he asked and Amity smirked, while Emira only turned redder. 

“Oh? Emira didn’t tell you about our trip to the blacksmith’s the other day?” Amity asked him with a syrupy sweet tone as she crossed her arms and looked at her siblings, especially Emira, who paled.

Edric knew that tone, his baby sister had something good. He darted across the room and flopped onto her bed with a bounce and set his head in his hands, looking up at her as he kicked his feet.

"Tell me a story, Mittens." He batted his eyes at her.

"No!" Emira warned from across the room. Amity cocked a brow at her.

"What, you can dish it out but you can't take it?" She accused.

"Yeah, Em, all's fair in love and war, now let Amity tell me what you did." He grinned.

"Well…," Amity started just to be cut off once more by Emira's loud yell as she tore across the room and jumped onto her brother's back. He wheezed as all the air was forced out of his lungs on impact.

They screamed and wrestled before Emira grabbed his ankles.

Edric squealed as his twin yanked on him and started to drag him off the bed.

“Mittens help!” he screeched, as he clawed at the sheets for dear life.

“We’re leaving!” Emira yelled as she gave another hard tug and the sheets tore from the bed as she dragged him across the floor by his ankles.

“Nooooo!” he yowled as he slid across the wooden floor and out the door, Emira slammed it shut behind them, the sheets sticking out from between the door and its frame.

Amity blinked at the closed door as she listened to her brother’s cries growing fainter as her sister drug him away.

She sighed to herself.

At least that was one way to get them out of her hair. Though, she could have done without all the theatrics; it just wasn’t possible for the Blight twins.

She shook her head she turned to concentrate on her earlier idea.

~ ~ ~  
Luz and Amity left the estate early the next morning with little trouble, though the twins did try to tag along until she told them they were going to the blacksmiths and Emira quickly pulled her brother back into the house, much to his dismay.

Luz snickered to herself as they walked.

“She really doesn’t want to see Viney again, does she?” Luz asked once they were far enough away from the estate to walk side by side.

“On the contrary, I think she’d love to see Viney again, she’s just too embarrassed,” she snorted.

“I’d be embarrassed if I knocked over half the shop of a girl I liked too,” Luz chuckled. 

Luz glanced in the direction of the black smoke billowing into the air as they walked toward the archives. Maybe she would stop by and have a chat with Viney on her day off tomorrow, see what she thought of the eldest Blight daughter. 

She hadn’t said anything bad after the two nobles had left the shop, only that if Emira came back in she would be happy to help her choose a weapon to start out with. 

She hummed, drawing Amity’s attention. The noble glanced in the direction of Luz’s gaze and saw the smoke and smirked. She already had a pretty good idea of what Luz was thinking.

“Leave it alone, Luz,” she said, making the knight turn back to her.

“What?” she asked with a grin. 

“Leave them be…”

“I haven’t done anything!” 

“I know that face,” Amity said. “You get the same look on your face when you think you’ve come up with a new glyph combination; ones that usually blow up.”

“Okay, one, It’s a trial and error process...” She held up a finger. “...two, I just wanna ask Viney what she thought about Emira, that’s all!” 

“Mhmm…” Amity rolled her eyes as they approached the steps of the archives. “You take your books back to the archivist, I need to go find something.” 

“You’re the boss,” the knight saluted with a cheeky grin and wink that set Amity’s heart to fluttering in her chest as Luz turned and headed to the desk on the other side of the room Amity knew she was smiling dopily at the knight’s back and shook herself before hurrying off into the stacks. 

Luz set the books on the desk, but no one was around.

“Hello?” she called.

“Hold on one moment!” A familiar voice called back and Luz perked. Sure enough, a moment later, hidden behind a stack of books taller than he was, Gus came out of the back and set them on the desk. “Okay! How can I - Luz!” he grinned and quickly rounded the desk to throw his arms around the knight. She laughed and gave him a brief squeeze back.

“Hey, Gus!”

“What are you doing here?” he asked, taking a step back to look up at her.

“Amity needed to get a book and I needed to bring these back.” she gestured to her own little stack.

“Ah yeah, no problem!”

“Did you get any of those enchantment manuscripts you were telling me about?” she asked hopefully. 

“Sure did, let me go get them.” Gus hurried back into the back room and Luz bounced excitedly, especially when he returned with two thick bound reams of paper.

They chatted for the next half hour and Luz nearly forgot that Amity was off somewhere among all the books.

The green-haired noble grumbled to herself as she stalked through the aisles. There had been very little about what she was looking for in the general archives and had sought out an archivist, who told her that what she was looking for was not accessible to the general public. Two more only told her the same thing.

She cursed under her breath. Why would that sort of information not be accessible to the general public?

That didn’t make any sense, not when there were similar books on the shelves already, at least under the subject that she wanted.

She needed those books!

She stopped in front of a large door with a sign that clearly read ‘Archivist Staff Only’ and hummed, pursing her lips. 

Was it worth the cost of being caught and getting in trouble with her parents when they returned from their trip in some months? 

Luz’s melancholy face popped into her mind and the decision was cinched for her. She glanced around and upon seeing no one in her general vicinity stepped forward and gave the knob and experimental turn.

Locked; but not for long.

She pressed her fingers to the handle and concentrated. A magenta glow enveloped the handle for a few seconds before a quiet click sounded and Amity grinned to herself. Maybe her parents hadn’t allowed Lilith to teach her swordplay, but she had taught her a few other useful things outside their approved enchantment and runic lessons.

She quietly slipped inside and looked around at the shelves of books stored within. Things that had been banned or forbidden for public use for any number of reasons, usually for dissenting opinions with the Emperor.

She quickly moved through the shelves, categorized luckily, by subject, and found the shelf she wanted.

Amity quickly flipped through the books, they weren’t quite what she was looking for. She shelved yet another tome and sighed before pulling out one that appeared more like a journal than anything else, the cover also looked a little singed and she flipped through it quickly but stopped as she absorbed the words.

This was what she needed!

She tucked it under her arm and hurried out of the room making sure to close the door and relock it behind her before hurrying back to the front. 

Luz was still standing at the counter, talking to Gus about the manuscripts when she hurried by.

“Luz, we need to go,” she called. 

The knight looked up and blinked before turning back to Gus and waved before she followed Amity out of the building. 

“Did you get what you needed?” she asked as they moved back through town toward Blight Manor.

“I did.” she smiled, looking rather pleased with herself as she looked at the book in her hands.

“What is it, something for enchantments?” Luz cocked her head curiously. 

“Yes, advanced enchanting magic.” she lied through her teeth easily. Years of practice with her parents. 

“Oh, can I see?” she asked but Amity clutched it tighter to her chest and Luz blinked.

“Not right now, we’re almost back to the manor and you get absorbed into this stuff too easily, I’d never get it back,” she smirked up at Luz who grinned sheepishly. 

“That’s fair,” she agreed.

"I'll bring it to you later," she promised as they approached the manor.

Luz nodded as they moved within earshot of the gate.

Amity nodded to Jerbo as she went inside and Luz took her place across from him.

"You spend a lot of time with Lady Blight," Jerbo piped once they were alone.

"Huh? Oh, I mean, I guess? She has me accompany her places and stuff." Luz shrugged. "She's a lot of fun." 

"We are talking about Amity Blight, right?" he asked.

"Yeah! She's really smart and talented at magic, not to mention she has this incredibly dry sense of humor that cracks me up…," she smiled as she looked at Jerbo, who was grinning devilishly at her. "What?"

"Sounds to me like you like her."

"Why wouldn't I like her? Amity is great." She frowned as Jerbo began to snicker.

"No, Luz, I mean, sounds to me like you're romantically interested in her," he said.

"What?!" She nearly shrieked. 

"You did everything except say how pretty sure was," he teased. 

"What, no! I mean, of course she's pretty, she's beautiful I just…" she floundered, face turning red as she realized those words had come right out of her mouth almost against her will and Jerbo was still standing there grinning wickedly at her. "I...I'm not…," she sputtered weakly.

"Sure, Luz." He nodded. "You don't think she's beautiful or smart or funny and talented with magic." He barely got the words out over his chuckling but turned away from Luz to watch the road again as she was left opening and closing her mouth helplessly.

No, she wasn't interested in Amity!

She’d meant everything she said, but that didn't necessarily mean anything. They were helping each other and they respected each other's knowledge.

That was all.

So why couldn't she stop thinking about it?

~ ~

Luz was laying in her bed of hay, the sun had already set some time ago when the noble walked quietly into the stables.

Upon seeing her, King got up from his place beside her and moved to another pile of hay on the other side of the stall with a grunt.

"He really doesn't like me very much does he?" Amity asked as she settled herself next to Luz in the hay.

"He's just grumpy cause you take his spot," she waved a hand dismissively.

"Well, I'm sorry, King." She glanced over at the demon wolf, who grunted in acknowledgment, glancing at her over his shoulder. his rust-colored eyes gleamed in the light of the fire Luz had going several feet away.

"He'll get over it! Anyway, what did you want to work on tonight? I haven't started anything new, mostly just practice with the ones I have though, I have been learning to change their effects based on intent like you suggested. Fire has been kind of tricky though…"

"It almost has a will of its own you have to learn to circumvent."

Luz hummed thoughtfully at that.

"Actually, I didn't want to work on runes or your glyph magic tonight, I brought you something." She held out the book from the archives.

"I thought you said you didn't want to work on enchantments and stuff?" she asked as she took the thick leather book from Amity's hand.

"It's not a book on enchantments, just look." She gestured to it.

Luz hummed and flipped it open. Handwritten pages flowed with carefully written script and at the top of them were dates, according to her math, they were written a little over one-hundred years ago.

"It looks like a journal…" 

"That's because it is, it's the research journal of a witch named Octavian Mortifer. Before the war, he studied humans."

Luz whipped to face her, eyes blown wide and Amity smiled at her. 

"So…" Luz couldn't even begin to speak as what Amity told her began to sink in. "This… this is…" she found it hard to form words as wonder and surprise welled up in her gut.

"It's all his observations about the human settlements he visited and observed," Amity finished for her, delighted by the nearly speechless surprise on Luz's face.

This is… amazing! How…?!" She stopped herself, trying to collect her thoughts. "You got this at the archives today?" she asked and Amity nodded. 

"They certainly didn't want anyone to look at it either for some reason, it was in a restricted section behind a locked door,"

"You stole this?!" Luz blinked.

"No, I… borrowed it," she hedged.

"Why?" That was all Luz could think to ask as she looked over at Amity.

"For you," she managed to say, even as she felt her cheek pink. They were luckily, hidden by the orange and red glow of the fire. "I could tell that you were… upset, yesterday. That you didn't know anything about humans. I thought the archives might have at least something that might answer some of your questions," she trailed off and glanced toward the fire, unable to hold Luz's intense look for another moment. 

"You went through all that trouble just to get this for me?" she asked in disbelief. Amity only nodded.

Luz's grip on the book tightened, nails biting into the worn, leather cover.

She couldn't stop the overflow of gratefulness and affection that suddenly surged up in her and she threw her arms around Amity, who let out a startled squeak at the sudden contact.

"Thank you, Amity. You have no idea what this means to me." She mumbled beside her ear, sending a shiver up the noble's spine.

Amity sat frozen for several seconds before she slowly wrapped her arms around Luz and squeezed back, smiling to herself as her ears began to twitch against her will.

"You're welcome," she breathed as Luz's warmth enveloped her. She was always warm, and she must have just bathed because she smelled strongly of clean earth and grass.

Much too soon for her liking, Luz pulled back and she had no choice but to let go.

"Alright! Let's see what it says!" Luz grinned and leaned back with the book, practically yanking Amity down into the hay with her.

Luz started to read the first few pages and was enraptured by Octavian's detailed descriptions of human settlements and their similarities to those of witches back home. Though he never specifically said ‘The Boiling Isles’. It was always a place called 'Domum'. That was probably just what they used to call other parts of the Isles way back when, before the war when witches had pushed out their human enemies and grown to populate the land they once had. She examined every page very carefully for at least an hour, quoting little interesting bits allowed to Amity, who gave her own opinions but slowly only hummed in response.

"According to this, humans had water that ran straight into the center of their towns and villages for everyone's use from aqueducts, kinda like it does here in town," she said, but upon receiving no response at all, turned to look at Amity, who was slumped against her shoulder, eyes shut and breathing even; asleep.

Luz smiled to herself as she watched her, firelight flickered across her face, off her cheeks and the sharp line of her jaw, highlighting the dark specs that were splattered across her nose and the tops of her cheeks like someone had flicked paint across the blank canvas of her pale skin. 

Searing, hot affection burned in Luz's chest as she watched the steady rise and fall of her chest as she slept peacefully on her shoulder.

Luz blinked as a sudden thought struck her like a bolt of lightning.

'Oh no'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this a lot faster than I thought I would.


	12. Chapter 12

Luz jogged straight out of the gates of Blight Manor first thing after sun up, with King following along at her heels. She needed to talk to someone, and the first person she could think of was Eda. She jogged quickly through town toward the inn, darting between the people that crammed the busy streets of Bonesburough. The streets were as packed on this beautiful late summer day as any other. There were no trees in town, but last time she had been out, they had started to droop and were slowly dripping into vibrant yellows, reds, and browns. 

Once she arrived at the old inn she was disappointed to learn from the innkeeper that Eda had left on a job yesterday and wouldn’t be back for a few days, but he didn’t know where exactly she had gone. 

“Now what do I do King?” She ran a hand through her hair and sighed as she walked back out onto the street. She hadn’t been able to stop thinking about Amity ever since she’d had her moment of revelation last night. Especially as she’d sat there with Amity asleep on her shoulder all night. She waited until the sun had been about to come up before she even entertained the idea of waking her, she looked tired. Though, not as tired as she herself felt right now. She’d never been able to get to sleep herself, not with Amity’s warm, gentle breath blowing against her neck all night, but she didn't have it in her to wake her. 

Amity needed rest, not because she liked it!

“Ughhh!” She dragged a hand down her face, exasperated as she moved down the street with King at her side. She’d been a tongue-tied mess the moment Amity had woken up and those sleepy, gold eyes had landed on her, blinking against the harsh sunlight that had slowly begun to light up the stables.

_Luz was stiff, her body was tight and tingled with pins and needles. She’d done her best not to move and disturb the noble curled up at her side, her right cheek laying on her left shoulder and gradually shifting closer over the course of the night till she was all but pressed against Luz’s side._

_She tried to sleep but found that impossible with the soft warm breath that blew against her skin with every other heartbeat and the nervous energy that had started to thrum under her skin. Powered by the warm, humid air against her neck with Amity’s every breath._

_Amity was a spot of warmth curled up at her side and she couldn’t bring herself to move, nor wake her. She merely stared up at the ceiling for hours, occasionally glancing at Amity’s sleeping face, highlighted by the ever-dwindling fire, and trying to figure out what to do when early morning sunlight finally began to leak into the stable. Once the light had crawled onto her face, Amity began to stir. She nuzzled her face into the knight's violet-tunic-covered shoulder, which caused Luz's heart rate to spike, beating wildly against her ribs._

_Slowly, those dark, amber eyes fluttered themselves open and sunlight glittered across their golden depths, warm and almost liquid in appearance, like warm honey. Luz stared into them for a few long seconds, Amity stared back, blinking sleepily before she seemed to come fully into wakefulness and blinked as she looked around and her eyes locked once more with Luz's._

_They were silent for several long moments._

_Luz watched, fascinated as a faint hint of color began to spread across her cheeks, growing steadily darker as her eyes widened comically._

_Or at least it would have been if it was someone else. Luz gave herself a mental slap to try and save Amity some embarrassment._

_“Tired?” she asked, grinning weakly at her, and trying to repress the warble in her voice._

_Amity shot back and Luz instantly missed the warmth as the noble looked around frantically._

_“I fell asleep…,” she whispered, looking almost horrified by the notion._

_“Y-yeah, you did.” Luz bobbed her head in agreement. She suddenly felt so out of place in front of Amity; awkward. Where was she supposed to put her hands? What did she usually do with them? She crossed them over her chest, but the nervous twitching remained as Amity looked at her, and the motion seemed to make her grimace._

_“I am so sorry, Luz!” Amity jerked up, hauling herself to her feet, leaving Luz to jerk and scramble up after her, grunting as she tried to haul herself out of the hay pile with her prickly and numb limbs._

_“No, no it’s fine!” she hurried to assure her. “Really, Amity, it’s…” Whatever else she was going to say was cut off by shooting pain. She made a gurgled sound of pain and fell to her knees._

_“Luz!”_

_“I’m okay!” she rubbed at her seizing calf muscle. “Leg cramp…," she gritted out between her teeth as she tried to rub away the knot._

_"Because I fell asleep on you….," Amity groaned to herself, covering her face with a hand, doing her best to hide her flushing face._

_"It's fine…!" Luz hissed from her place on the ground, making Amity grimace._

_“I’m sorry, Luz. I have to go!” She turned and darted out of the stables._

_“Wait, Amity…!” she jerked forward. The knot in her leg tightened and she fell flat on her face on the dirty stable floor, leg spasming_

_“Ow…”_

_From the corner, she heard a distinctly lupine chuffing sound. She turned her head to look at King. He was looking at her from his corner and making small huffing noises._

_He was laughing at her, she was sure._

_“Shut up!”_

Luz frowned as the two of them walked down the street. She needed to talk to someone!

She turned the corner and spotted a familiar shop across the street,

She chewed her lip thoughtfully and made a quick decision before dashing across the street to the door and flinging it open.

“I have a problem!” she declared to the empty shop the moment she spotted a familiar head of short, dark hair.

“I might have an elixir for it…” Willow said, looking up from her book. She smiled at the knight as she stood in the doorway. If she’d learned anything about Luz in the relatively short time they’ve known each other, it was that she could be a bit dramatic when the mood struck her. “Is it boils? I have an elixir for that.

“Wh- No, it's not boils! This is so much bigger than boils!” she said, as she dragged her hands down her face.

“Okay, okay, come sit down and tell me,” Willow chuckled as Luz walked in and plopped herself on a stool at the counter across from the plant witch. Willow frowned as she finally took in Luz’s appearance. She looked a little haggard and had faint dark circles beneath her eyes as though she hadn’t slept at all. “What happened to you?” 

“I didn’t sleep all night.” she slumped forward on the stool, her forehead thumping on the counter

“Yeah, I can see that. Something happen?” she asked gently, Luz lifted her face to look at her, chin still laying on the counter. 

“I…” She glanced up at Willow’s concerned face and sighed and mumbled something under her breath.

“What?” Willow cocked her head, watching in mild curiosity as Luz’s cheeks turned pink.

“I like Amity,” she grumbled a little louder. Both the witch’s eyebrows shot up into her hairline at that. Her knee jerk reaction is to cheer because the plant witch was a lot of things, but oblivious was not one of them. She had known Amity Blight for a very long time, and as subtle as Amity could be, Willow knew what to look for, though Amity had not been subtle at all where Luz was concerned. It was obvious to anyone with eyes just what she felt for the human knight. 

Anyone except Luz that was, but she seemed to have caught a case of feelings all on her own, though Willow needed to be sure before she made any solid judgments. 

“I assumed you liked Amity after you two apologized and started spending so much time together studying and training,” she said testingly. 

“No, Willow! Like…,” she stopped herself. Why were the only examples she could think of ones that involved watching the noble sleep on her shoulder or the way her hands felt in hers, small and soft?

“Like…?” Willow prompted, doing her best not to break into a grin as Luz continued to change colors like the leaves outside the town walls.

“Like, romantically,” Luz finally settled on the least embarrassing thing she could think of.

“Oh!” Willow tried to appear surprised just as the door to the shop opened. Her eyes flickered to it and she couldn’t help the slight curl at the corners of her mouth. “You want to court Amity,” she said.

“Who wants to court Amity?!” 

Luz jumped, turning in her seat to see Gus standing in the open door, mouth hanging open.

“Luz,” Willow answered before the knight could so much as squeak.

“You want to court Amity?” he let the door close behind him as he trotted over to them, leaning in conspiratorially. 

“NO!... I mean… I dunno.” she glanced between the two, unsure. 

“Well, you just said you liked her.” Willow gestured to the knight with a hand.

“I do! How could someone not… I mean, we got off to a bit of a bumpy start, but Amity is great! She’s really smart and…” Her mind flashed back to that morning, bright sunlight lighting up golden irises. “...beautiful…” A quiet snicker made her blink and she realized that Gus and Willow both were looking at her with wide, knowing grins that made her pink face darken.

“Sounds like you want to court her to me,” Gus said knowingly, Willow nodded in agreement.

A smile started to pull at Luz’s lips as she thought about the youngest Blight. All those things and more were true of Amity, and as Luz thought about it, she liked to be the one who made Amity smile and laugh, even if it was sometimes at her being ridiculous. She liked being the reason Amity’s ears twitched, liked being the cause of every little upward curve at the edges of her mouth when the noble tried not to laugh or grin at her antics. 

“Yeah… I do.” she finally nodded and her friends broke out into bright grins.

“Then go for it!” Willow grinned.

“I…,” Luz slumped. “Amity would never want me,” she grumbled, running a hand through her hair tiredly. 

“Why not?” Gus threw up his arms.

“Amity is a rich, witch noble… and I’m a human nobody…,” she sighed.

The two witches shared a look before Willow turned her gaze back to the dejected knight.

“That’s not true, you’re a knight,” she reminded and Gus nodded fervently. 

“An unknown one. Reputation is everything for a knight, and I don’t have one yet, right now, I’m a servant just trying to get by. I have nothing to offer her.” She grimaced. “Amity has probably had dozens of suitors, right?” She looked up at Willow, who hesitated.

“She’s… had a few,” she hedged. “She turned them all down though.”

“Didn’t you tell me some guy brought her like, a whole herd of horses for a gift when he was attempting to court her?” Gus looked at Willow, who glared back at him as he blinked, confused until Luz jumped off her stool.

“See, how can I compete with something like that!? Even knowing that Amity doesn't like men, I can't just not have something to offer her, and I don’t have anything that could compete with that, I don’t even have my own horse!” she growled as she began to pace around the shop.

“Sorry…,” Gus mumbled and Willow sighed. 

“Amity doesn’t care about that kind of thing, Luz,” Willow tried to cut off her grumbling and pacing. King sat next to her abandoned stool, watching silently. 

“Why would she even consider me? I have to be able to offer her something!” The knight paced, heedless of Willow’s words. She was tempted to just tell Luz that Amity very obviously already wanted her, but that wouldn’t be right. That wasn’t her secret to share.

“Why not get her something that can’t be bought? Or bought easily, anyway.” Gus suggested to his pacing friend.

“But what?” she finally stopped, turning to look at them. 

Willow hummed. Luz was not going to be persuaded otherwise, so at this point, they were better off helping her think of something to get the noblewoman. 

“Well, Amity studies advanced enchantments and elixirs, right?” Gus glanced at Willow, who nodded. “Why not get her some kind of hard to get ingredient, there's plenty of those, and you can’t usually just go out anywhere and buy them,” he suggested.

“That sounds perfect!” Luz grinned. “What should I go looking for? I don’t know much about elixirs or potions,” she admitted and turned to Willow, who hummed.

“Well, the rarest ingredients I know of are usually from creatures, like albino griffin feathers, lycan saliva. dragon scales…” 

“That’s it!” Luz cut her off with a bright grin.

“What?” Willow blinked.

“I will slay a dragon and get her scales!” the knight declared and the two witches paled. 

“Are you crazy!?” Gus yelled.

“There's a reason those ingredients are so rare, Luz!” Willow.

“I killed a cockatrice, who says I can’t kill a dragon?”

“Luz…!” 

“I gotta go prepare, wish me luck, come on King!’ She turned and bolted out of the shop, the demon wolf on her heels. 

“Luz!” They chased her to the door but the knight was already hightailing it down the street, leaving the two to stare at her disappearing back in the crowd. They were silent for a long moment. 

“Welp,… she’s dead…” Gus said. Willow groaned, burying her face in her hands.

Luz sprinted down the streets of Bonesburough toward the archives. First thing was first, she needed some information. Eda had taught her about all kinds of monsters, including dragons, but had never gone into great detail about them other than that they were dangerous. Not that she needed anyone to tell her that. Giant, flying, fire-breathing lizards were kind of the face of danger.

“Stay here, King.” She patted the wolf’s head and climbed the archive steps. 

Where would she find books about dragons? She walked over to a young witch wearing the pale blue that indicated archive staff.

“Do you know where any books about dragons are?”

“Ah, sorry, no. I’m just a copy assistant, but EC, the Master Archivist is right there, you should ask them.” He pointed across the room to a witch standing on a ladder shelving books. Luz nodded and thanked him as she moved to stand at the bottom of the ladder.

“Uh, excuse me?” she called up. The witch grunted in reply as they flipped through a book, not even glancing at her. “Do you know any books about dragons?” she asked. The book in their hand snapped closed.

“My girl, I have read every book, tome, and manuscript in this archive, I know every book about dragons.” The witch peered down at her. 

“Can you tell me where they are?” she asked, and they grunted.

“Second floor, fifth case from the left, sixth shelf from the bottom,” they intoned as though reading from a list. “...and do put it back when you are finished.” they peered down at her knowingly. 

“Uh, right, thanks!” She quickly scurried off following the archivist’s instructions. “Let’s see, dragons…” she ran a finger over the spines before finding a bestiary. “Here we go!”

She pulled it from the shelf and flipped quickly through its pages, running a finger down the alphabetized list of creatures. . “Cacklers, Crugels… Dracoliths, ah, Dragons!” She grinned.

_Dragons are a separate family of draconids, characterized by their large size, two pairs of well-developed legs, and huge wings and tail. They are also much more advanced than their smaller cousins, possessing not only greater strength, but also mild intelligence. Though reasons for this behavior remain unknown, dragons universally love to collect gold, gemstones, and other treasures -- a trait which has already made its way into countless legends. Despite what tales of noble dragon slayers rescuing innocent maidens might have you believe, the people organizing expeditions to hunt down dragons are invariably motivated not by the desire to put an end to the local threat, or even to win fame, but by simple greed. Dragons come in the red and green varieties, with a mythical gold variety being naught but a legend for fools._

Luz hummed to herself, skimming the list of characteristics. Fire-breath, razor claws and teeth… nothing she didn’t already know. She put it back and flipped through a few more. They all spouted about the same information at her and she frowned.

It seemed that was all she was going to get here. She shelved the books and walked back down the stairs and through the main foyer. 

This was looking like a matter of simple brains over brawn. She needed to think because there was no way she could take on a dragon by herself with no gameplan. Dragon hunts were generally group affairs according to the books. 

She knew she needed to get a horse, she would need one for when she started entering tourneys anyway. She did some math in her head, she should have enough money to buy one, hopefully, it wouldn’t get eaten on this adventure, along with herself. 

As she walked out of the building, King quickly fell into step beside her as she sorted out everything she still needed to do. She needed to see Viney. She’d had an idea last week and had run a few test trials on some old scrap metal, but she needed Viney to do it for her. 

“Okay, we’ll see Viney first, she might know where I can get a horse too,” she looked down at King, who grunted in response. “I’ll take that as a yes.” She nodded to herself as they moved through town toward the billowing black smoke clouds that always hung over a portion of the city, though on a sufficiently windy day, it was quickly carried away. Today the wind was absent and it hung over the city like a shroud.

“Hey, Viney!” The knight greeted her as she approached. The blacksmith looked up from where she was bent over her anvil, pounding a piece of metal into shape.

“How’s it goin’, Luz?” the other woman stood and wiped her brow with the back of her arm. Autumn was on its way, but it was still quite warm for now. “I'm getting ready to set off on a monster hunt, and I was wondering if you could engrave some stuff on the blade of my sword.”

“Oh, yeah, sure. So, what’s your prey?” She asked, dusting her gloves off on her pants.

“Dragon,” Luz answered easily and Viney jerked back, looking at her with wide eyes.

“Dragon?” she repeated and Luz nodded. “What the hell are you hunting a dragon for?” She planted a hand on her hip and leveled a concerned look on the young knight. 

“I need dragon scales… I need something to impress Amity with if I want to… ask her to even entertain the idea of… letting me court her,” she mumbled the last part, cheeks pink. “What would be more impressive than dragon scales?” she asked as the smith looked at her for a long moment before she whistled and crossed her arms, grinning. 

“You set the bar high, dontcha?” she asked with an amused chuckle. “Alright, well, I feel like I should warn you that the chances of you ending up a charred smear on a rock somewhere is pretty high. Though, I doubt that’s going to stop you.” Luz shook her head. “Alright then, let’s talk about what you wanted engraved on your blade.”

Viney got to work, promising that it would only take a few hours and that since Luz was a friend, she would drop her other orders and get it done. The Emperor’s soldiers weren’t all that eager to get their weapons and ship out anyway.

“I hate to be the reason you go out there and get eaten by a big flying-lizard,” she joked, sending Luz off to the other side of town. She had a friend who sold horses and could probably do her a solid.

The witch in question was gruff, and older with a thick beard and eyed Luz suspiciously as she approached, looking at the horses pinned in behind him. She’d ridden a few times, but wouldn’t exactly call herself an expert equestrian. 

“Whataya want?” he grumbled at her.

“Uh, I wanted to buy a horse, Vinsey sent me.”

At the mention of the smith’s name, the grumpy witch grinned.

“Aye, Viney! Any friend of the smith is a friend of mine. What kind of horse were ya thinkin’ of?” he motioned her into the fence.

“One that’s good for tourneys?” she shrugged. She didn't’ know the difference between them. Riding was really all she knew about them. She knew more about Griffins and Sphinx’s than the common horse. 

He hummed and walked through the horses tied to the posts and stopped at a gray and white speckled horse. 

“Whatcha’ think of this one? Sturdy and easy tempered.” 

Luz looked at the beast and tried to at least pretend she knew what she was doing. She mostly had to trust that Viney wouldn’t send her somewhere she would be ripped off.

“Looks as good as any horse to me.” She shrugged and he laughed. 

It hurt her to pass over the amount of silver she did for it and the accompanying saddle and gear she would need, but she had to remind herself that when the tourney’s started in the spring, she would be ready. 

“What do we call him, King?” Luz asked as they walked back to Blight manor, the other guards were allowed to keep their horses in the stable, she'd have to share her stall with hers. 

King just looked up at her and she hummed. 

“I’ll think about it…,” she mumbled to herself.

She saw Jerbo, and another guard in her usual spot at the gate as she walked through with her newest companion.

"Nice horse, Luz," Jerbo called and she nodded.

She glanced up at the third story balcony as she passed and found it empty. Not that it was unusual for Amity to not be out there at this time of day when the sun was directly overhead. 

After the way she had rushed out of the stables this morning, she was worried that Amity might be mad at her for not waking her sooner or letting her lay on her. It was early afternoon and was only starting to really warm up, so Amity was probably inside. 

Which reminded her, she needed to talk to Bump, to see about getting a few more days off. She was going to need some time to track down a big scaly beast. Or find someone who knew where she could find one. 

She pulled off her new rides saddle and left him and King in the stables as she entered Blight manor for the first time since she had been taken on over a month and some days ago. She hurried up the stairs to Bump’s office and knocked on the door. After a few seconds, the family steward called for her to enter.

“Sir Bump?” she called. He was sitting behind his desk, quill in hand and scratching away at the paper in front of him. He looked up as she popped her head in the doorway.

“Come in, what can I do for you, Luz?” he asked, setting the quill back in its pot.

“I need to take the next three days off, I had some important business come up that will be taking me out of town…”

“And you wish to know your job will still be here when you return?” he finished for her, pale blue eyes narrowed.

“Yes, sir," Luz swallowed. Her planning would be for not, even if she did succeed if she couldn’t even come back to the manor; it would be all for nothing. 

Bump scratched his chin thoughtfully as he carefully regarded her. 

"Normally, being as short-staffed as we are, I would say no…," Luz grimaced at that. "...however, you've proven to be competent and all three of the Blight children seem rather fond of you… so you may go, and your position here will be available when you return." He nodded.

"Thank you very much, Sir Bump." She gave an awkward little bow to the steward, not knowing what else to say or do to show how grateful she was. 

"Yes, now, go on, and check-in with me upon your return." He waved a hand toward the.

She nodded and quickly left the office before he could change his mind.

She closed the door behind her just to turn and run smack into the Blight twins.

"Hey, Luz." Edric smiled at her.

"Oh, hey, guys," she greeted, looking between the two as they gave her those strange, knowing smiles they had been for some weeks now like they just knew something.

"You never come in the house, something up?" Edric looked at hers curiously.

"Oh, yeah. I was just telling Sir Bump that I'm leaving is all. Which reminds me, I gotta run back to town, I'll talk to you guys later." Luz waved and trotted off down the hall, unaware of both twins’ jaws dropping open as they watched her disappear.

“We have to tell Amity!” They whipped to look at each other before running through the long halls, whizzing past the servants and barreling through their sister's bedroom door.

“Amity!” The two shouted, practically tripping over each other in their rush to squeeze through the doorway. 

Amity jumped, turning to look at the two from her place in front of her vanity where she’d still been berating her reflection for falling asleep on Luz in the stables last night and how odd she must think her now.

“Don’t you two know how to knock!” she snapped at them, frowning.

“Luz is leaving,” Emira said, ignoring her sister’s question. 

“What!?” the youngest Blight jumped up.

“Yeah, we just ran into her leaving Bump’s office, she said she was going to run to town and then she was leaving,” Edric started where his twin left off.

Amity’s mind was buzzing with questions. Why would Luz just suddenly up and leave without even telling her, knowing that she would wonder where she went?

She could only think of one reason.

Amity groaned and buried her face in her hands. Her chest constricted painfully and her eyes started to burn as she forced them shut behind her hands. Of course Luz was leaving, she must have made her feel so awkward!

The twins glanced at each other, wearing identical expressions of worry and confusion. They walked over to their sister and laid a hand on each of her shoulders. 

“Did something happen between you two?” Emira finally asked after the long awkward seconds had drug on for some time.

Amity pulled her hands down below her eyes to look at her brother and sister, both looking back at her, concerned. 

She quickly explained her falling asleep on Luz’s shoulder in the stables last night and how painfully awkward things had been that morning. 

“I dunno, sis, that doesn’t sound like Luz,” Edric said when she finished and Emira nodded. 

“Yeah, maybe go talk to her in the stables first, I’m sure it has nothing to do with you,” she assured her. “Luz is too sweet to just up and leave because you got cuddly seemingly out of the blue.” 

Amity just shook her head.

“Even if it doesn’t have anything to do with me, she’s still leaving…. And I don’t think I can face her right now…” 

“But…” Edric started and Amity pulled out of their grip.

“I just want to be alone right now,” she mumbled, turning her back to them to wipe at her eyes.

Emira shared another look with Edric and jerked her head toward the door. He frowned, looking like he wanted to argue but she gave him a hard look and his eyes narrowed but he nodded.

“Okay, Amity, we’ll go.” They backed out of the room and closed the door behind them.

“What was that?” Edric hissed at his sister, who held up a hand before he could really get going.

“We need to talk to Luz. Come on.”

~ ~

“So, a bit of a rush job, but…” Viney rubbed the back of her head with a leather-clad glove as she and Luz stood in front of the forge.

“Are you kidding? It looks great!” She grinned, admiring the deep, clean engravings that traveled the length of one side of her sword. The glyph for ice just above the guard, followed by fire, plant, and light.

“Well, so long as you're pleased,” the smith nodded, crossing her arms. “So, what are they for, not that they don’t add a certain something to the blade anyway.

“It’s how I do magic, I’ll show you.” Luz stood back and slapped a hand to the fire glyph, it glowed red, and then the blade was engulfed in flames.

"Whoa!" Viney stepped back as Luz took a few test swipes through the air, the flames trailed through the air. 

“Right?” Luz laughed as she cut the blade through the air a time or two more before sheathing it and extinguishing the flame.

“Impressive, I’ve never seen magic done like that before,” Viney admitted. “I hope it’s enough to keep you alive long enough to beat that lizard. Do you know where you’re going to go look?” 

“Yeah, I stopped at the job boards on the way back here and there was a poster. Apparently, a red dragon has burnt down a few buildings and stolen some sheep just to the northeast of here, at the foot of the mountain. They’re looking for someone to kill it, I figured that was as good a lead as any, and I’ll be helping some people.” Luz grinned.

“You gonna take it on dressed like that?” Viney asked, pointing to her violet tunic pulled over her chainmail shirt and plain pants.

Luz glanced down at her clothes and shrugged.

“It’s all I got.” 

Viney clicked her tongue at that.

“Naw, come on.” She waved a hand to follow her into the shop. “Let’s see… she looked around the inside of her shop, tapping her shin before grabbing a thin, curved chest and shoulder piece. “Put this on,” she handed it to Luz before pulling down a pair of metal and leather bracers and matching tassets. 

Luz got it all strapped in place and looked at herself in the mirror on one wall of the shop.

“Now you look like a knight.” Viney grinned, stepping back. Luz held up her bracer covered forearms and flexed her fists. 

For the first time, she actually felt like one too.

“This is great, Viney, but I can’t afford this, I spent most of my money on the horse and I still need to buy some supplies.” she turned to look at her friend who shrugged.

“Eh, don’t worry bout it. If you live, bring me back some treasure or dragon teeth, if ya die… well, don’t worry about it,” she chuckled.

“Well, I don’t intend to die,” she laughed. 

“Well, I wish you the best of luck, both with that scaly beast and your not so scaly lady friend,” Viney chuckled, giving Luz a good-natured punch in the arm.

“Thanks, hopefully, I’ll see you soon.” She waved to the blacksmith as she left the shop, King trailing along behind her. She made a few more stops, buying some rations and supplies before heading back to Blight manor, it was late afternoon and there was still plenty of light for her to travel too. She was ready to go anyway, no sense wasting time waiting for tomorrow. 

“Whoa, what are you all dressed for?” Jerbo asked her as she passed.

“I’m leaving for a monster hunt. A red dragon in the northeast.” Luz told him and his jaw dropped open.

“A dragon? Pfft, you couldn’t hunt a gecko, much less a dragon,” the other guard grunted at her and Luz scowled. King growled at him, deep and rumbling and he took a nervous step back. 

“Just watch,” she snapped, sneering at the witch, who sneered back as she stomped inside.

She made a beeline for the stables, grumbling under her breath as she did.

“Luz!”

“Mierda!” Luz jumped when she came face to face with Edric and Emira in her stall. “Geez, don’t do that!” She held a hand over her chest. 

“Didn’t mean to surprise you,” Edric said as he eyed her new metal plating. “Nice armor,” 

“What are you two doing out here?” Luz moved past them to start saddling her horse.

“Well…,” Edric started only for his sister to cut him off.

“Why are you leaving?” Emira asked.

Luz glanced at them as she threw the saddle over the gelding’s back.

“I guess I didn’t mention it. I’m going out to hunt a dragon.” 

“A dragon!” both twins yelped and Luz nodded.

“Yup, there's a red dragon that's been bothering the villages in the northeast, I’m going to kill it for scales,” she said, putting the bit in her horse's mouth and tossing the reins over its head.

“Those are pretty rare ingredients...what do you need scales for though? You don’t do elixirs or potions…” Edric cocked his head as he crossed his arms. 

The twins watched, fascinated as Luz's cheeks began to darken.

“It's a gift,” she mumbled. Emira hummed at that and glanced at her brother, who frowned.

“Got your eye on a witch that does elixirs?” she asked, crossing her arms. Amity would be heartbroken.

“....Yeah… and I can’t approach her with nothing…,” Luz mumbled, embarrassed as she packed her rations into her bag. 

“Is it Willow?” Emira asked, that would really kill Amity. She would pretend she was happy for the two if that was what they wanted but it would crush her little sister. 

“What?” Luz laughed. “No, it’s not Willow.” she shook her head. The twins looked at each other, both thinking the same thing. Luz really only spent her free time with them, Gus, Amity, and Willow.

Mirror grins broke out across their faces before they turned back to her.

“Amity?”

Luz’s face darkened further and she ducked her head, all but confirming the two’s suspicions. 

“You’re gonna go kill a dragon, for Mittens!?” Edric was beaming ear to ear. He didn’t know if that was the best or craziest thing he’d ever heard. 

“Wow… I'm jealous,” Emira pouted. “Not one of those stuffy nobles has ever offered to kill a fire-breathing lizard for me…”

“Well… the chances are equally as good the dragon is going to kill me,” Luz huffed, finishing with her preparations. 

“Oh… yea, there is that…,” Edric muttered. 

“You don’t need to kill a dragon for Amity, flowers are nice too, ya know?” Emiara tried and Luz just shook her head.

“I’ve been training for years for this, I gotta try, besides, anyone can give Amity flowers, I wanna give her something you can’t just buy, like the guy with the horses!” She threw up a hand.

“Oh, Lord Thyrus… I forgot about him…” Emira made a face.

“Lord Chump, was more like it,” Edric snickered and Emira nodded.

“He was so full of himself,” she snorted, rolling her eyes. 

“Mittens sent him packing in their first five minutes of acquaintance, much to our dear parent's dismay.” Edric grinned at her. 

“Well, I’m not a chump, but I also don’t have anything worthwhile to offer her other than myself, so, I’m gonna do this.” She untied the gelding and led him out, King and the twins followed behind.

“You really don’t need to do this, Luz. Just tell Amity how you feel!” Emira pleaded. Why were these two like this?! 

“I will, when I get back,” she promised. 

“Luz…,” Emira sighed, but her brother just dropped a hand on her shoulder.

“We're not gonna convince her,” he mumbled. Emira sighed violently. 

“I haven't had a chance to see her since this morning, so when you do, will you tell her I’ll see her in a few days?” Luz asked and they nodded, though Emira did so reluctantly. 

“Thanks, guys. Wish me luck!” She grinned as they approached the front gate and Luz hauled herself into the saddle. 

“I salute your bravery and stupidity!” Edric grinned, giving her a mock salute. 

“Be careful, neither of us wants to have to tell Amity you were eaten by a dragon.” Emira gave her a smile.

“Well, hopefully, you won’t have to; I’m off!” she squeezed her heels into the horse's side and trotted through the gate and down the street, King running along at the horse's side.

“Good luck, Luz!” Jerbo called as she waved at them over her shoulder eventually disappearing from sight.

“Should we tell Amity where she went?” Edric asked his sister as they moved back inside the manor. Emira shook her head.

“No, not unless Luz is gone for more than a week, but we should tell her she’ll be back in a few days… hopefully,” she mumbled.

They found Amity still in her room, sitting on the edge of her bed and looking at something held between her fingers.

“Hey, Mittens,” Edric called as they stepped inside. Amity looked up at them, frowning. “We went and talked to Luz before she left…”

Amity flinched at that, grip tightening around the object in her hand, which they could now see was a little pale pink and white shell.

Emira glanced at her brother, who shrugged.

“She’s not leaving, leaving, Amity,” she said and Amity’s head whipped up so fast it made their necks twinge.

“What?”

“She’s going on a monster-hunting adventure, said she’d be back in a few days.” Edric shrugged, smiling at his little sister as her shoulders sagged in relief.

“That’s a relief… I hope she’ll be okay,” Amity mumbled, still running her fingers over the shell. 

“Us too…” The twins looked at each other.


	13. Chapter 13

Luz hummed to herself as she traveled along the trail in the ever-dwindling sunlight, moving further away from Bonesburough and toward the mountains off in the distance that grew steadily closer with each hour. 

This was it, her first monster hunt all on her own. First and possibly last… but she tried not to dwell on that little bit. She wished she could have gotten some ‘sagely’ advice from Eda, anything really, she would have settled for an anecdote, but the old knight wasn’t around and she probably would have told Luz that this was a dumb idea. In fact, she knew Eda would tell her this was a stupid idea, especially considering her reasons. 

It probably was.

Right up there with the time she had used her training blade as a javelin against some bandits they had run into once, or the time she tied a rope to the hilt and sunk it into the ground to use as an anchor while scaling down a cliff to predictably disastrous results that had resulted in a broken arm. 

At least she was consistent.

She was going to get those scales or die trying though! 

Hopefully the former. 

She fiddled with her bracers, tightening the straps around her forearms, and patted her horse comfortingly. He whinnied and snickered as she rubbed the thick muscles of his neck.

She glanced down at King, sauntering down the trail at her side, unbothered and tongue lolling out the side of his mouth as he looked around at everything along the trail. Easy for him, he wasn’t going to be the one face to face with one of the most feared creatures in the world, and a potential barbecuing. 

She took a deep breath and remembered what Eda had always told her, It was alright to be afraid, the trick to bravery was doing what needed to be done despite that fear, but there was no shame in admitting to fear, and Luz was admittedly, afraid, though not just of the dragon.

These new and unknown feelings churning in her gut whenever she thought about Amity also made her afraid, afraid of them and being rejected; that thought terrified her, maybe more than the dragon.

Well, maybe not as much as the dragon. Amity probably wouldn’t set her on fire. If she was going to do that it would have been when they first met. 

All Luz knew how to do was fight, her automatic response to these new feelings was fight something. She had more reasons than that of course, but that was what it boiled down to. Now here she was, off to slay or more likely, be slain, by a dragon. 

She’d never felt this way before, so enraptured by someone that she couldn’t sleep, made her hands clammy and her heart hammer in her chest. She knew what it was, of course, she’d read enough of those ‘sappy romances’ as Eda liked to call them, to be somewhat aware after she’d had her sudden realization of just why she liked to stare at the noble so much. Why seeing her smile at her or watch her as she explained something from one of the runic books made something warm and happy churn in her stomach. 

Was this a good idea? Highly debatable, but she was going now, and out alone on the road she had more time to examine her new and persistent feelings, which didn’t really help that much without knowing how Amity might feel. It was a leap of faith, maybe Amity wouldn’t be interested no matter what. Were that the case, Luz would at least have some experience under her belt, and a solid jumping-off point for her career as a knight in earnest.

Or she’d be dead, but details. 

She had to at least try.

Like Eda said, it was okay to be afraid. Then again, Eda always said to play it smart, and this was probably... no, definitely, not that. Hopefully, she would have a story of victory and glory to tell the owl knight when she got back, instead of her hearing through the vine that some human knight had gotten herself roasted by a dragon. 

Once dark had started to fall she pulled them off the main road and made camp in an open clearing. She was exhausted, and wolfed down her food after feeding King and her, as of yet, unnamed horse before she snuggled herself under a blanket at King’s side and dropped off into a deep slumber. She had no problem falling into a deep sleep because she knew that even asleep, King was always listening. 

She buried her face into his fur and the next noise in the camp outside the gentle popping and cracking of the fire were her soft snores. 

~ ~

Amity sighed to herself. She hadn’t bothered to leave her room much except to eat since she had left the stables yesterday morning. It was mid-afternoon now, and the heat of the day had settled in, bright and oppressive against the world outside. She already knew it was going to be a hot one as the sun’s rays only intensified as they slowly, but surely edged closer to the western horizon. Hopefully, it was one of the last few they would have to suffer through for the season. She was sweltering, even inside, and there was little relief to be found anywhere within the manor, much less outside, not that she would have left anyway. It was cooler in the house than anywhere outside, and anywhere beyond the manor grounds was forbidden to her unescorted.

She could stomach few of the guards, especially the new ones, and she loathed the idea of being escorted anywhere regardless of the guard. She only allowed Luz to do so because they were helping teach each other and it was much easier to move about with Luz guarding her then to try and meet the knight somewhere, knowing anywhere outside the manor grounds she would be dogged at the heels by one of her family’s guards. Luz, for the most part, let her go about and do as she pleased as well; it was a relationship of convenience.

At first, it had been anyway.

Now she was glad. Her parents' orders to the family steward to have all three of them accompanied outside the manor grounds had only allowed time for her, at first, unpleasant feelings for the human knight to foster into mutual respect, friendship and then a deep, overwhelming affection that sometimes felt like it was going to swallow her whole. Just being close to Luz made her tingle pleasantly, even as half those tingling sensations were her frayed nerves.

None of her suitors in the past had evoked even a fraction of the same sentiments. The efforts of the ones her parents had done everything in their power to make seem appealing to her, had fallen more than flat. They had been downright dull, or self-absorbed, or any number of other things that had made Amity turn her nose up at them. 

She'd never been able to make herself even marginally interested, even if to keep her parents off her back for a time as they fretted over her lack of interest. The women, and even less the men, simply couldn't hold her attention for more than the handful of seconds it took them to meet. She knew exactly what she was looking for, and all of those who had come before had been judged and left wanting in her eyes. 

So of course, the first person who knocked off every item on her list wasn't one of the noble witches her parents had tried to foist upon her, but a human knight, that was working for their family as a simple gate guard and one that hadn't the slightest clue about her feelings, no matter how obvious she was.

Not that Amity had been trying to let her know, she had been very clear to Emira about keeping it a secret, from everyone.

She was deathly afraid of what would happen if Luz found out. She might not want to teach her swordplay anymore, or learn runic from her; not want to spend any more time together.

She might actually leave and not come back.

That made the young noble's heart constrict painfully in her chest, the idea of losing the knight entirely. 

Maybe her feelings would remain unrequited, but so long as she could be near her, she would endure it.

She'd never met someone who seemed to click into place with her as easily as Luz, even if they could only be some strange quasi form of friends and tutors to the other. 

Amity sighed to herself and stood from her vanity, setting down the shell she had been wearing smooth under the constant worrying of her thumb.

Her siblings said she had gone on a monster hunt, but not what she was hunting. Ghouls, basilisks? There was any number of dangerous creatures that would require the work of someone of Luz’s skill. Now she really wished she had gone down to talk to her before she had left, at least to wish her luck if nothing else.

The twins had though, she would need to ask them if she wanted to know about Luz’s prey.

She left her room and made her way down the hall, not even glancing at the array of near ancient paintings of long-dead relations and banners that lined the halls. Shows of wealth and prestige to guests and outsiders. She quickly realized her siblings’ rooms were empty when she knocked and no one answered either door. She frowned to herself as she continued down the hall and walked down the stairs to the main foyer. It was quiet and empty, the house staff all going about their chores somewhere else in the house.

Where were they? Probably not outside, not in this heat. Emira had a fit anytime she started to get excessively sweaty. She searched for the better part of twenty minutes before she heard her siblings’ voices drifting out of the cracked open door to the solarium. 

“Do you think she’ll be okay?” Her sister’s voice reached her ears as she approached and she frowned, about to push the door open when Edric’s voice answered.

“It’s Luz, she’s pretty tough I think.” 

She stopped, palm pressed to the wood, and listened. She didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but she couldn’t help herself as they talked about her knight. She shook her head at that. Luz was certainly not hers by any stretch of the imagination and she banished the thought quickly.

No matter what Amity may have wanted.

“How would you know?” Emira scoffed. “You’ve never seen her in a real fight.” She could imagine the look on her sister’s face, one she had seen easily a hundred times, annoyed disbelief with their brother. 

“No, but we’ve seen her train, by herself and with Mittens. Reminds me of watching Lilith practice.” Her brother’s voice was low, sleepy almost as though he were dozing, probably on one of the fainting couches in the room. 

“Practicing against some straw dummies or Amity is a whole different thing than fighting a dragon, Ed!” Emira snapped.

If her brother answered, she didn’t hear it. Amity could only hear one thing. 

Dragon 

Luz had gone off to fight a dragon!

Her whole body clenched and the next thing she knew she burst into the room making both twins jump, screaming.

“Luz went to fight a dragon!?” she yelled, looking between her two shocked siblings.

Emira had jumped up and Edric laid sprawled on the floor from where he had fallen off one of the fainting couches, looking up at her just as shocked. 

“How long have you been standing there?” Emira finally asked.

“Long enough to hear that Luz went to get herself killed!” The youngest Blight shouted, fists clenched in an effort to hide the trembling in them.

“We don’t know that…,” Edric started as he climbed to his feet.

“It’s a dragon, Ed!” Amity snapped. “Killing things is what they do! Why didn’t you try to stop her?!”

“We did!” Emira defended, holding up her hands. “She wouldn’t listen to us.” 

“You didn’t try hard enough!” The noble snarled even as she could feel hot tears starting to build up in her eyes, knowing where Luz had gone and that the chances of her coming back were slim to none made roiling emotions start to bubble up and boil over inside her. 

“She’s a grown woman, Amity, we couldn’t force her not to go. She was bound and determined,” Edric said gently, seeing the tears welling up in their sister’s eyes. He looked helplessly at Emira, who frowned and with a few quick strides wrapped her arms around Amity, who put up token resistance, trying to push the older woman away before finally wrapping her arms around her older sister and burying her face in her shoulder to cry, unaware of her brother’s comforting hand on her shoulder. 

“Why?” she sobbed into Emira’s dress. The twins shared a look over her head.

“We don’t know,” the elder Blight daughter mumbled, running her hand through her sister’s hair.

It would only serve to make Amity feel worse if they told her the truth, especially if Luz didn’t come back.

Amity only continued to cry.

~ ~ ~

Luz grumbled to herself as she rode through the thick and humid woods at the base of the mountain, heading upwards toward the cliffs.

She’d spent the better part of the morning talking to the villagers, a few of the much older ones took one look at her ears and turned their noses up at her, while the rest seemed too eager to tell her all about the beast at the prospect of being rid of it at last, though most seemed rather disappointed when they inevitably asked where the rest of her group are and she said she was alone.

She huffed to herself. She at least got the information she wanted.

Scary, breathed fire and about four horse long and two tall. 

From what they described, the dragon in question was young. She knew from the stories and illustrations she’d seen, that they were much, much bigger once fully grown, which was good news for her really. 

Surely she could take on one adolescent dragon?

A few of the braver villagers had followed the creature back to a cave in the mountains, so she knew exactly where to go, so that cut out some of the guesswork and potential days tracking a beast that could fly. So far, this was off to a good start.

She yanked back on the reins, pulling them to a stop, and dismounted. She tied the reins around the closest tree.

“Stay here, King.” she looked at him and he growled. She knelt down to scratch behind his ears. “I don’t want you to get hurt, that cockatrice threw you around before,” she hissed as he continued to growl. “Look, if I get in trouble, you can come running in, okay? For now, stay here and guard… Zert? No. Just guard the horse.” She patted his head and stood. King grunted but stayed where he was as she made the rest of the way by foot.

The ground steadily rose higher and rockier as she picked her way over roots and rocks, sweat already beading up on her forehead and sliding down the back of her neck, even under the thick foliage of the trees. Her armor was light, but in this heat, it was heavy and hung from her shoulders like stones. 

She ignored it and continued her trek up the hills. She was going to do this come hell or high water! She’d already come this far, she wasn’t going to turn back now.

The vegetation slowly vanished and became rockier as she climbed till she was standing just outside the dark opening of a cavern. Claw marks marred the stone, as well as black, sooty ash. 

“Alright… you can do this!” She squared her shoulders and carefully picked her way around the clearing to approach the cavern from the side and drew her sword as quietly as possible. Her palms were already sweating, and she couldn’t tell if it was from nerves or the heat. She clutched the blade tighter, leather squeaking in her grip, she took a deep breath.

“Arghh!” She jumped around the corner, sword held high.

Nothing happened.

There was no movement from the darkness, no sound. No fire-breathing lizard, not even a gecko.

Luz frowned, lowering her blade and pressing a hand to the light glyph on her glade. It glowed before the whole sword was enveloped in bright light, illuminating the cavern.

It was empty.

At least, of any fire-breathing monsters. Glimmering in the darkness at the edge of her light was a small pile of golden coins and twinkling gemstones in varying shades of jade, sapphire, and ruby.

“Ooh…” Luz trotted forward into the cave and knelt next to the small pile.

It was a far cry from the massive hoards that the stories always depicted, but it made sense if the dragon was young and had only just started stealing precious items. She grabbed up a handful of coins and gems, rolling them around in her palm. The coins clinked together as the gems glittered and shined in the light of her sword. 

“Wow…,” she mumbled, dragging her fingers through the coins and quickly pocketing a handful of the precious materials. “Well, this isn’t bad either.” She stood and looked around at the empty cavern. Other than the small hoard of goods, there was nothing but some rocks. “...but where’s the…”

A gust of wind and a sudden, rumbling crash made her whip around in time to face the hulking, draconic form that filled the entrance of the cavern.

“Meirda…”

The beast roared, a high pitched, almost squealing cry, showing off rows of razor-like teeth in it’s gaping maw before it bound forward, claws scrabbling over the stone and headed straight for her.

“Argh!” she jumped to the side, clattering to the ground only for it to go careening past her to ram itself against the back cavern wall, making the whole place tremble and shake, sending a cascade of dust and debris from the ceiling.

Luz didn’t wait for it to turn itself around before she scrambled to her feet and ran for the entrance.

She sheathed her blade, extinguishing the light as she ran out into the sunlight.

She slid to a halt a good distance from the cavern entrance and turned to watch the creature emerge from the opening.

It was as the villagers described. Two horses tall and four long, with bright, gleaming scales of crimson that shined under the sun. She swallowed thickly as her eyes traveled along its form. Large clawed feet up to a wide, barrel chest and thickly muscled neck, to a triangular head from which a pair of long, curved, ivory horns stuck up from its head. Bright, glowing, yellow eyes bore into her beneath the shadow of a scaly brow. Perhaps most impressive of all, were the large red wings that laid curled against it’s back.

Its mouth opened revealing its gleaming teeth and another roar filled the air, then before she could blink a stream of fire shot toward her and she could feel the heat kiss her face as she jumped to the side as the ground erupted in flames. She could smell burning hair but didn’t have time to examine that, her heart was hammering in her chest and heat was licking at her heels.

“Shit!” she cringed as her body hit the ground again, armor biting into her on impact, but she didn’t let it delay her long as she scrambled to get her feet back underneath her and ran, circling around the creature and drawing her sword, and just in time for the end of a scaled tail to whip around toward her.

It was more reflex than anything that made her raise her sword up to block the incoming tail.

The beast let out another sharp roar, but this one was more pained than a warning as Luz’s blade bit deep into its flesh. The force of the impact made her stumble backward, pulling her blade free from where it had rendered scale and flesh, splattering blood along the ground as the beast growled and rumbled, pulling back its wounded appendage as Luz looked at the blood covering her blade. Crimson, bright and glistening under the late summer sunlight dripped from the silvered edge, and for all the terror that had welled up in her, the blood reminded her that for all the awesome power and fear the beast commanded, it was still just a creature; one she could kill!

She looked up as its head reared back and she jolted, running quickly as a plume of fire engulfed the clearing once more and sent another wave of sweltering heat washing across the ground in the form of rolling, red and yellow flames. The heat was so thick Luz could see it rippling through the air like the sun off desert sand. Though, she dared not take her eyes off the great lizard in front of her, even as the fire petered out

Smoke billowed out past dagger-like teeth and narrowed, cat-like eyes watched her with a burning intensity.

It was mad now.

She swallowed thickly as sweat dripped down her face and neck. It only kept getting hotter with every blast of fire it breathed into the air. The heaviness of her armor remained, but it wasn’t her primary concern as she stared the beast down, sweat trickled down her back and she could feel the mild burn on her face from where she had barely dodged that first blast of fire.

They stared at each other for a long, tense handful of seconds, neither moving. The air, thick with tension and heat. 

She couldn’t just let it make all the moves or she would have to follow its lead. She needed to make it follow hers. That’s what Eda had always taught her. 

Luz’s hand whipped up and pressed to the ice glyph engraved on her blade.

The dragon lunged forward, mouth opened wide, as if to swallow her whole, but not before Luz swung the blade, sending sharp, shards of ice shooting from her sword in a pale, icy, blue glow. 

The beast reared back with another pained screech as the razor-sharp ice stabbed and embedded itself in its face. Before Luz could think to capitalize on her attack, a flailing, clawed foot struck her hard across the chest, sending her sprawling through the fire-blackened earth. She thumped heavily across the ground before finally rolling to a stop in a cloud of ash and dust. 

“Ugh…,” she groaned painfully, her whole world was a dizzy blur of dirt and pain where every part of her had smashed into the ground, her armor jabbing and digging into her. 

Slowly, she pushed herself to her feet and glanced down at her chest piece to find three new gashes torn straight through the metal, but her tunic beneath remained untouched.

Another loud snarl made her jump to her feet the second her body would allow and made a dash for the trees at the bottom of the hill just as another wave of fire lit the air.

She couldn’t fight something of that size and strength in the open. She needed to make use of her much smaller size. She sheathed her sword and glanced over her shoulder as the beast ran through the dissipating flames after her, down the hill back toward the woods.

A gust of wind hit her back and she glanced up to see it swoop overhead, the beat of its wings sending dirt and leaves scattering. 

“Shit, shit, shit!” Her armor clanked and clanged against itself as she ran down the hill, narrowly moving out of the way of another burst of flame. 

She scattered rocks and sticks underfoot, trying to keep her footing on the incline, flailing to keep her balance, but her boot snagged on a root, sending her careening down the hill, smashing into everything along the way. 

She didn’t even have the breath to scream as she rolled down the hill. Something sharp smashed into her forehead and everything went black for a handful of seconds before coming back into sharp, painful clarity as she slid to a stop just inside the tree line.

She grimaced, blinking away the stars in her eyes, but a loud roar that shook the trees, made her pull herself to stand, albeit shakily. Something warm and wet was dripping down her face and she reached up, only to pull back her blood-covered fingers and winced.

She looked up, watching it circle around in the sky before, looming over her before it turned and dove straight for her.

“Aw fuck!” she turned and ran deeper into the woods just as it crashed down, splitting wood under its large, clawed feet. It roared and she could hear it somewhere behind her, crashing through the trees, but definitely slower than before as the thick foliage worked to inhibit it. She made a sharp turn just as fire burst passed her, sending several dry trees up in flames.

She weaved between several more trees forcing it to follow her pace. She drew her sword and made another sharp turn to circle back. She could move much better in the enclosed space than it could. She circled around it, caught in the denseness of the trees, and swung at its back leg, leaving a deep gash in her blade's wake.

It roared out as she delivered a second, hacking swing to its back leg. If she could just cripple it, this would be a little easier!

She barely managed to duck under another clawed swipe that tuned a tree to splinters before turning and darting deeper into the forest. The dragon’s furious roars followed behind her.

Luz panted, blood pounding in her ears as she forced her legs to run faster. The ground shook beneath her feet as it followed. She slid beneath a fallen tree and jumped to the side, hidden by another, and pressed her hand to the ice glyph once more.

“Raagh!” As it crashed by, she swung, digging her sword deep into its scaled hide and letting the creature’s own momentum slice the blade clear through its side. 

It’s loud screeching roar echoed throughout the woods, but Luz didn’t wait to see as she took off again. Blood was still dripping down her face, completely obscuring her sight in her left eye, but she didn’t stop nor slow as she bound through the woods, jumping over rocks and bushes until she could see something up ahead of her.

“Damnit!” 

Only about thirty yards in front of her was King and her horse, she’d completely forgotten about them and the dragon was once more closing in behind her.

King had seen her too and stood, letting out a rumbling bark just as she heard the tell-tale sound of an inhale that meant fire was about to once more rain down. 

“King!” she called, veering to the right and the demon wolf ran to the left, ducking out of the way just as a stream of fire billowed past, setting more of the forest up in flames. She was only vaguely aware of her horse crying out as she spun around. 

Her heart almost stopped as King went running straight toward the beast, teeth bared, his deep growls drowned out by the dragon’s own rumbling sounds as it’s slitted yellow eyes zeroed in on the wolf

She dashed forward just as it reared its head back to unleash a torrent of fire on the black wolf. 

With a roar of her own, she darted beneath it and slashed upward, slicing clean through the beast’s throat.

Blood sprayed across the ground and onto Luz below.

The dragon made a keening, gurgling sound as it stumbled a few feet before dropping to the ground.

Luz stood, panting, and bloody blade in hand as she stared at the large unmoving creature, blood pooling around it from the cut. Her whole body trembled as the fires around her burned themselves out.

She took a shaky step forward and gave it a poke with the tip of her sword.

“I… I did it?” she breathed, unable to take her eyes off the dead dragon. “I did it!” she screamed, thrusting her hands into the air. “Ha!” 

King trotted to her side and she glared at him.

“Don’t ever do that again.” she frowned and the beast only seemed to huff in response. “I’m leaving you behind next time…,” she grumbled, reaching up to wipe at the blood on her face. 

She slowly walked around the body, now that she could get close enough to have a good look.

Its teeth were longer than her hand and its horn’s just as sharp. 

“No one will believe me,” she mumbled to herself. “Not unless I have proof…” She quickly made up her mind and stood next to it and reared her sword back, bringing it down as hard as she could, severing the great monster’s head from its neck.

She sheathed the blade and drug the head over to her horse, which was thankfully still alive.

Its mane and tail were a little singed. Its distance from the fire was the only thing that had saved it.

“I know what I’m gonna call you,” she soothed the frightened animal. “I think ‘Singe’ is appropriate,” she chuckled to herself and went about tying the heavy, severed head to the horse and sighed. She was exhausted, but she still had work to do as she moved back to the lifeless body.

The whole reason she’d come; scales.

She spent the next hour prying scales off its hide, with King sniffing and nosing at the body unhelpfully.

When she’d filled a bag with scales she was satisfied with, she stuffed it into her saddlebags. She couldn’t scale the whole thing. She had neither the energy nor will. Besides, what would Amity do with that many scales?

“Okay, you two, one more stop!” she declared, hauling herself into the saddle, despite how her whole body protested the movement. She was starting to hurt now that the rush of the fight had begun to wear off. Her whole body ached, and her injuries burned.

She carefully led her still wary horse and King back through the woods and up the hill toward the cavern. 

She wasn’t going to leave the beast’s hoard behind, she’d earned that gold!

She used the end of her tunic as a makeshift bag and made quick work of scooping up the pile of coins and gemstones and depositing them into her other bag. Her horse made a sound of protest.

“I know, but just bear it a little while.” She patted his flank and mounted. 

The ride back to the village at the mountain’s base was a quick and uneventful one till she rode through, the head hanging from the horse's flank drew more than a few eyes.

Her bloodied and bruised state probably didn’t help with that.

The village headman stared at her with open wonder as she gestured to the head.

“I took care of your dragon.” 

Luz could admit, she definitely sat a little higher in the saddle at all the amazed looks from the witches, especially the ones who had doubted her. 

“I’ll get your reward all the villagers chipped in for.” The headman turned to scurry into his home but Luz stopped him.

“I don’t need it.” She waved a hand. “Keep it. I got what I came for.” She reached back and gave one of the dragon’s horns a tap. Carefully not mentioning the hoard she had taken for herself. That was plenty, she wouldn’t take from a poor village.

“Truly?” the witch asked, looking up at her, still amazed and Luz nodded. “At least tell me, who do we say freed us from this foul creature’s wrath?” he asked and Luz perked.

“Luz, Luz Noceda…” She suddenly remembered how Eda had always introduced herself as ‘Eda, The Owl Knight’, given her tendency for depictions of owls on her armor and scabbard. She glanced down at King and the wolf head pommel on her sword and grinned as she proudly declared:

“I’m Luz Noceda, The Wolf Knight!”


	14. Chapter 14

It was a wonder what a bath could do, especially one that washed away all the thick, goopy dragon blood she had been covered in, as well as the dirt and ash. Though, she still hurt all over and had a number of splotchy, purple, and blue bruises all across her body from the several tumbles she had taken. It took some time for her to get the large cut over her left eye to stop bleeding, that one would leave a scar for sure.

Not that Luz minded that, a new battle scar! It would go with the cockatrice scar on the same side of her face, even though it hadn’t technically been monster inflicted. She figured she’d hit a rock on her little trip down the hill. It was earned during the battle, so it counted. 

A cold bath in a nearby river that eased some of the aches and one of the deepest sleeps she’d ever had later, she found herself riding back into Bonesburough, and drawing more than a few looks as she rode through the center of town.

The dragon head hanging from her horse probably had a lot to do with that, though she herself also probably drew more than a few with the state of her face and armor. Barely scabbed over cuts covered her face and arms, as well as the darkened black and purple bruises that bloomed across her face. Her body was covered with them from places she'd hit rocks, sticks and her armor had jammed into her when she'd fallen down the hill.

The three deep gashes that tore directly across her chest plate probably didn’t help, there was no hiding those.

She still needed to pay Viney back for that. She had no delusions about the fact that if she hadn't been wearing it, she’d be lying dead on the forest floor today, or more likely, being digested by a dragon. 

She ignored the witches crowding the streets and gawking as she moved toward the billowing black smoke that was always moving overhead, King did his part just walking along at her side, his presence helped keep people at a distance as they gaped at the dragon head.

She grinned to herself as she approached the forge, the blacksmith’s familiar form coming into view from her place leaned over shoveling coal into the hot, furnace.

“Hey, Viney!” she called.

The blacksmith jumped, whipping around and flipping up her mask.

“Hey, you’re alive!” she grinned brightly, but then seemed to take in the knight’s haggard appearance. “You look like that dragon chewed you up and spit you out!”

“But you should see him!” Luz laughed as she dismounted and turned her horse to show the blacksmith the head hanging there.

“Well, shit, you did it!” she grinned, walking over to admire the great beast's head. She whistled as she inspected the teeth and horns. “Those would make some really good stuff,” she mumbled to herself, tapping her chin.

“You’re welcome to ‘em. If you hadn’t given me this armor I’d definitely be dead,” she said, gesturing to the ripped tears in the metal. “Next time, I think I’m gonna need a helmet though too,” she chuckled, reaching up to tap at her scabbed-over cut above her left brow.

“That thing really did a number on you, didn’t it?” Viney asked as she inspected the tears in the chest plate. Sliced clean through, like a hot knife through butter. 

“Eh, it wasn't too, bad, except the claws… and all the fire… falling down a small cliff wasn’t fun either…, yeah okay, it was bad, but I lived!” she declared with a grin which looked grossly out of place on her cut up and bruised face.

“I guess that’s all that matters then, are you sure it’s okay if I take the teeth? Those are just as valuable as the scales, maybe more so considering where you have to go to get them,” Viney asked, looking at the head. 

“Yeah, like I said, I owe you. Which reminds me, I gotta pay for the… now destroyed armor…” she chuckled, once more gesturing to her chest piece.

“So, it had a hoard?” she asked and Luz nodded.

“Small one, I think this one wasn’t very old.” She patted the scaly head.

“You let me have some of the teeth in this thing and we’ll call it even.” Viney waved a hand as she quickly moved back to her station and grabbed her metal tongs. “Let’s get pullin’.” she grinned and set to work trying to extract the biggest teeth.

“Hey, Smith, ya got a minute?” A familiar voice called through the air, making Luz perk.

King saw her first through, and galloped straight up to the Owl Knight, tail wagging and tongue lolling out of his mouth. 

“King, what the heck are you doing here?” 

“Eda!” Luz grinned brightly, throwing up her arms before running over to grab the other knight up in a tight hug.

“Luz!?” Eda looked at her as she stepped back out of the embrace. “What the hell happened to you?” she asked, looking her up and down. A tint of worry crawled onto her face as she took in her former apprentice’s state. “What happened to your eyebrows?” 

Luz reached up and felt her face, sure enough, her eyebrows were gone. You win some, you lose some. If she had to lose something, she’d rather it be her eyebrows than her head. 

“Huh… Oh, but I just got back from a monster hunt!” she grinned proudly.

“Looks like the monster was hunting you,” Eda mumbled, looking at the gashes in her chest plate.

“Well, only one of us is still alive,” Luz said. “Not gonna say I didn’t take a few licks here and there…, but for my first solo kill, I think it went pretty well!” She beamed and a grin pulled at Eda’s face as she reached out and ruffled the human’s hair.

“Good job, Kid. Ya didn’t die, that’s the important thing. So, what did you bag, Brownie, Ghoul?” she asked, humming, trying to figure out from the human’s state what small creature could do damage like what she was seeing on Luz’s armor.

“No, I went a little…. bigger…,” she scratched the back of her head and jerked a thumb over to Viney, still working to dislodge the dragon’s large fangs.

Eda blinked at the severed head owlishly for several long moments before her eyes whipped back to Luz, who was still grinning at her sheepishly.

“What!?”

~ ~ 

Eda sighed, rubbing her temple as she looked at Luz from across a table nestled in the back corner of Hexside as she nursed the second drink Luz had bought her. 

“You hunted down a dragon… to impress a girl?” she asked tiredly.

Luz flushed at that. It sounded ridiculous when it was said out loud like that.

“I hunted a dragon for scales… that are for a girl... that village also needed help!” she defended herself.

“I leave you alone for two months, tops, and you throw yourself, literally, into a dragon’s den!” 

“I killed it!” 

“By the skin of your teeth by the looks of it, and that one wasn’t even fully grown, which you are so lucky for.” Eda frowned at her. “There's a reason dragon hunting is done in groups, Luz. Groups of at least ten usually. What you did was akin to suicide!” The other knight scowled at her and Luz hunched down under her old mentor’s stern gaze, frowning down at the table.

Eda held her glare for several long seconds before taking a long drink from her mug.

“Look, Luz,” she sighed heavily. “I know how eager you are to get out there and prove yourself, but throwing yourself into the most dangerous situations you can find is only going to get you killed. Why did you spend all that time learning just to throw it away in one reckless attempt at glory?”

Luz frowned, unable to look her old mentor in the eye.

“I just…my whole life people have looked down on me, spit on me, because I’m human...I just want to prove that I’m worth something….,” she mumbled, hands clenching to fists on the table and Eda frowned, feeling every bit her age at the moment as she looked across the table at her former apprentice. 

“You are Luz, and the people who matter, will know it,” Eda said. “You don’t need to go throwing yourself into the most dangerous fights you can think of to try and prove it,” she said. “You’ll earn yourself a reputation, I’m sure of it, but it’s not going to happen overnight by being reckless.” 

Luz sighed and nodded.

“You’re right…”

“I usually am,” Eda smirked, leaning back in her chair. “Stupidity aside, you did a good job, Kid, but maybe stick to something smaller for a while, something that would have a harder time eating you in one bite,” Eda suggested with the cock of her brow. 

“Yeah, I will.” She nodded. “I don’t think I can take another drop down a cliff for a while anyway,” she grumbled and Eda snorted at that. They stayed and drank for a while before Eda stood and Luz followed as they moved outside the dank pub into the harsh sunlight where King was waiting for them. 

“I gotta head back and collect payment for the job I just finished, but I’ll see ya around, Kid. Try not to get yourself eaten while I’m not looking.” Eda grinned and Luz waved as the older Knight sauntered off back into town. 

“I better go pick my head up from Viney and head back to let Sir Bump know I’m back,” she mumbled to herself as she and King headed back through the crowded streets toward the smithy.

Her horse was still tied to the post outside the shop when she walked up, Viney still leaned over the great scaly head.

“Hey, your back.” The smith grinned. “I pulled a handful of teeth, I figured you might want the rest and the horns for something,” she said, gathering up the long, dagger-like teeth and stowing them in the deep pockets of her apron.

“I don’t know what I would do with them.” she shrugged and Viney hummed. 

"Well, you're working for the Blights. I'd suggest offering them to old Bump. He’d kill for this kind of thing, and it never hurt to curry a little favor with the guy in charge," she grinned.

"You know Bump?" Luz asked. The old steward didn't seem like the kind of guy who did much in the way of physical fighting, at least not anymore if he ever had.

"We've met a couple times," she said but offered nothing else. Luz nodded, hauling the head off the anvil and tying it back up.

“Come and see me again before you go on your next big adventure, I’ll fit you up with something a little thicker,” she said, gesturing to the gouges in her chest piece and Luz chuckled. 

“I will,” she promised, hauling herself into the saddle. “See ya later!” She called over her shoulder, cantering along with King trailing along beside her through the streets of town.

She was surprised by how relieved she felt when Blight manor came into view. She actually kind of missed her quiet little stall in the stables and her bed of hay.

She also had been missing seeing Amity nearly every day or night. 

At that though,t she was hit by a sudden case of nerves. She was back now, and she had the scales, but she still had to actually talk to Amity. 

Easier said than done.

“Luz!” 

She looked up and grinned as Jerbo waved to her from the front gate.

“Hey,” she grinned, pulling back on the reins and hauling herself out of the saddle. 

“You’re back… what happened to your eyebrows?” he asked with a laugh and she grunted.

“Dragon fire,” she shrugged. 

“You saw it then, fought it?” he asked, looking at her cut and bruised face and rent armor with amazement.

“Yup! Killed it to,” she grinned proudly, only for a derisive snort at her side to draw her gaze. The same guard that had been on duty when she left.

“More likely it sent you packing back here with your tail between your legs,” he smirked and Luz snarled. 

“Then where did I get this!” She turned her horse to show the head hanging there and both Jerbo and his mouth dropped open.

“You really did it,” Jerbo said with amazement, staring at the large, scaly head. The other witch remained speechless. 

“I gotta go see Bump and let him know I’m back, I’ll see you later,” she nodded to Jerbo as she made her way quickly to the stables. King trotted over and plopped himself down in his usual corner on a pile of hay as she emptied her saddlebags and hid her new wealth beneath the hay of her bed.

She chucked off her armor and sighed in relief as the weight was finally removed from her shoulders. The chest plate was done, but the bracers and tassets were still good at least. One less thing she would need to buy from Viney next time. 

Luz hauled the beast's head over her shoulder by the ropes and hurried off to the manor. She had to check in with the steward and she still had a couple of things to do before she saw Amity, like let Gus and Willow know she hadn’t been eaten.

The halls were mostly empty, until she reached the second floor, just outside Bump’s office.

“Luz!”

She smiled as the Blight twins rounded the corner ahead of her.

“Hey!” She held up a hand in greeting.

“You’re back!” Emira said.

“You’re alive!” Edric threw up his hands.

“Yes, and yes,” she chuckled.

“What happened to your eyebrows?” Edric laughed, pointing at her forehead and Luz frowned. Was it that noticeable?

“Well, you’re not dead, so how’d it go?” Emira asked, crossing her arms as she looked at Luz’s bruised and cut up face. 

“You tell me,” She grinned, turning around and heard the two gasp as they looked at the great scaly head hanging against her back. 

“Wow,” Edric reached out and poked it testingly. 

“You really killed it…” Emira blinked at the head. “Now I’m really jealous…,” she mumbled and her brother laughed.

“Yup! Wasn't exactly easy, but yeah.” 

"I'll be honest, I didn't think you'd come back," Edric said, propping a fist on his hip.

"I wasn't sure I would either there for a bit… but, I have to talk to Bump now."

"Sure, we'll catch up later and you can tell us all about it," Emira said as she and Edric walked down the hall with a wave. 

"Should we go tell Amity?" Edric whispered to her.

"Yeah, come on!" They hurried down the hall and Luz turned and knocked on the office door.

"Come in,"

Luz opened the door and stepped inside. Bump was sitting at his desk, looking through a book when he looked up and spotted her.

"Ah, Luz, you've returned." He beckoned her closer.

"Yes, just now, Sir Bump," she said and he nodded.

"Very good, then you will resume your normal duties at dawn." 

"Of course, oh, uh…," she started, and he looked at her curiously. "A show of my appreciation for letting me go." She hauled the head off her shoulder and held it in front of her, wary of setting the thing on his tidy desk.

"Where in the Boiling Isles did you get that!" He jumped up and rounded the desk to better inspect the offering.

"I killed it, in the north mountains yesterday," she said as he looked at it with a carefully appraising eye.

"You slew it?" He asked and she nodded. He glanced up at her appraisingly, and she couldn't be sure, but he seemed the tiniest bit impressed.

"I can make good use of this," he seemed to say more to himself than her as he took hold of it. "Yes, this will do very fine. I appreciate the gesture," he said and Luz nodded, taking a step back.

"I should go and get my things in order so I can resume my duties in the morning…," she trailed off and he nodded distractedly as he continued to inspect the head.

"Yes, yes, you may go," 

She nodded before quickly shuffling out of the room and making a beeline straight for the stables.

King was right where she left him, dozing and she rolled her eyes as she stuffed the scales into her pockets and headed straight for town. Most of the scales were, at least partially, still covered in dragon blood, and she wanted to wash them before she presented them to Amity.

She also needed to check in with Willow and Gus, to let them know she was still alive.

luckily for her, she found both sitting inside of the apothecary when she walked in.

"Hey!"

"Luz!" The two shouted darting over to wrap her up in a tight hug. She grinned as she squeezed them back, but winced a little as they pressed against her many bruises.

"I can't believe you're alive!" Gus grinned up at her brightly.

“Wow, you were that confident in me?” she asked with a grin and he frowned, shuffling his feet.

“I mean… of course, I knew you could do it, can’t a witch just be glad his friend is alive?” He asked with a sheepish smile. 

Luz hummed and Willow elbowed her.

“If he backtracks any faster he’s gonna trip on his tunic,” she chuckled.

“I believe you Gus.” she nodded. 

“So, how was it? Was it huge, did it actually breathe fire, did you kill it?!” Gus fired off rapid questions, bouncing on his toes excitedly. 

“Okay, okay, I'll tell you!” she laughed and they gathered around the counter and she told them the tale, leaving out the parts where she screamed. No one needed to know about those. 

“You really did it.” Willow shook her head, amazed as she looked at the scales Luz had laid out on the counter as they helped her wash the dried blood off of them. The smooth, crimson surfaces sparkled and shined in the sunlight coming in through the window. “These are beautiful…”

“Do you… think Amity will like them?” she asked, unsure.

“I’m sure she’ll love them, Luz. Their beautiful, not to mention very rare and useful…” she hummed, flipping a scale over in her hand. 

“Do you want to take a few for your elixirs?” she asked and Willow looked at her, surprised.

“Oh, no, I couldn’t. You got these for Amity.” She waved a hand. 

“Yeah, but… I got a lot,” She gestured to the pile of scales sitting on the counter between the three of them and she could see Willow thinking about it. “It’s fine, Willow, really!” she promised, dropping a handful of the inch-long plates in front of her.

“Alright, thank you, Luz.” 

“You’re welcome.”

“So what are you going to do with all the gold and stuff got from the dragon?” Gus asked as he tossed another clean scale onto the pile between them.

“I dunno… maybe I could buy my own place to live when I’m done working at Blight manor? It certainly wouldn't need to be big. I need to find a safe place to store it for now though, I don't trust the other guards… except maybe Jerbo. So I don’t like the idea of just hiding it in the hay,” she grumbled.

“Well, if you put it in a bag or something I can store it here in the shop for you, that way no one can steal it and you’ll always have access to it,” she offered.

“Oh, that’d be great!” she nodded.

They finished cleaning the scales and Luz poured them into a leather pouch, pleased with herself. Now there was really only one thing left to do.

Which arguably, might be harder than facing down the dragon, less dangerous perhaps, but harder in some ways. 

“Well, I better head back. I think tomorrow I’m going to tell Amity I’m back and…” she held up the bag.

“You can do it!” Gus cheered and Willow smiled encouragingly.

“Just tell her how you feel, I’m sure things will work out great,” she said with an unshakeable certainty that did make Luz feel a little better about the nerve-wracking conversation to come. 

“Right… just tell her how I feel.” she nodded to herself and with a final wave left the shop and headed back toward Blight manor, tying the fist-sized leather satchel to her belt. It was nearly dark now, the final rays of sunlight that poured over the horizon line, which she couldn’t really see in town, were peeking between the shops and buildings, and spilling out onto the dim, gray street in soft waves of bright, warm, and vibrant, golden oranges that bled into glowing, ethereal pinks and soft lilacs that faded into wisps, vanishing against the indigo sky. 

The heat of the day has died down tremendously and now was only a warm kiss in the air, skimming against her skin. Soon, the leaves would fully turn and the next thing she knew they would be flaking off the trees and filling the streets, blown about by the chill of autumn winds.

Luz sighed tiredly to herself. She’d slept pretty hard last night but still was easy to wake to certain sounds or anytime King raised his head to better listen to something moving about the forest. It was hard to fully relax out in the open like that, she was looking forward to a long, hard sleep. Maybe it was a little early to go to bed, but her aches and pains were still alive and well, especially after all the running around she had done today and the long ride back.

She was almost looking forward to her boring, quiet gate duty tomorrow.

Almost.

When she stepped out of the great gates that lead to the countryside outside Bonesburough she could fully see the breathtaking sunset in all it’s glory as it sank below the horizon line, lighting up the sky.

The little pouch of dragon scales weighed heavily on her belt. Amity probably would like them, but that didn’t mean she liked Luz. 

She sighed again, reaching up to run a hand through her hair, a nervous habit.

She had to tell her, get this crushing weight that was sitting on her chest, off it, before it suffocated her. Even if Amity wasn’t interested, that didn’t mean they couldn’t still be friends.

So why did that thought make her feel like a hand had just reached into her ribs and was squeezing her heart in a vice-like grip?

She shook her head and continued down the road to Blight manor, a dark silhouetted shadow against the sunset.

Jerbo nodded to her as she passed. His shift would be over the moment the sunset and the night guards took their places. 

As she passed through the manor grounds, past Amity’s favorite pond with the carved bench, she wondered where the noble was and what she had been doing while she was away.

She supposed she’d find out tomorrow.

The stables were nearly dark and empty when she walked inside, using the low sunlight still seeping in to get a fire started. 

When it blazed to life she stood back up and came face to face with Amity.

“¡Santa mierda!” she screamed and stumbled backward against the stable wall with a quiet thump. “Amity! What are you doing here?” She blinked, watching in confusion as the noble stomped forward, scowling.

“I came here to tell you, you’re a damn idiot!” she yelled, jabbing a finger in Luz’s chest, pressing her back farther against the wall. 

“W- what did I do?!” she asked, watching the firelight cast sharp, angry shadows across Amity’s face.

“What did you do? You ran off to fight a dragon and possibly get yourself killed!” 

“Oh…” Luz shifted uncomfortably, unable to look Amity in the eye. “Who told you about the dragon?” Luz frowned.

“Ed and Em told me the day you left, why would you do something so stupid!?” She threw up her hands angrily. “I don’t care how skilled you are, or think you are, no one fights a dragon on their own. Do you know how worried I was that you’d never come back?!” 

“I did kill it…,” she tried.

“I don’t care if you killed it or not!” she growled, turning and stomping away, angry energy thrumming beneath her skin compelled her to move, and she stopped on the other side of the stall, her back to Luz and her hands fisted at her sides. “The fact that you were so willing to carelessly throw your life into mortal danger…,” her voice petered out, unable to even finish the sentence. 

Luz hunched at the scolding, she already had a good bit of it from Eda today already. She’d never meant to worry anyone, especially not Amity.

“I’m sorry, Amity. I didn’t want you to worry, that’s why I didn’t tell you,” she said quietly, that only seemed to make the noble angrier as she whipped back around to face Luz.

“So it would have been better had you just disappeared one day and never come back, leaving me to wonder what the hell happened to you!?” She barked, but her voice cracked and Luz blinked, noticing the slight trembling in her frame and the last rays of sunlight bounced off her glassy, tear-filled eyes. Luz, heedless of the hostile look leveled at her, crossed the distance between them in few short strides

“No.” Luz shook her head and hesitantly reached up to lay her hands on Amity’s shoulders. She felt Amity stiffen under her touch, but she didn’t pull away as she stared angrily up at Luz. Her golden eyes blazed in the flickering light of the fire and dwindling sunlight streaming into the stable. “I’m sorry that I worried you, that’s the last thing I wanted.” She gave a gentle squeeze and Amity’s jaw tightened and her lips trembled as a few stray tears managed to squeeze past and drip down her cheeks.

She sucked in a sharp, shaky breath, eyes flickering away from Luz.

“What was so damn important for you to potentially throw away your life for?” she bit out.

“Ed and Em didn’t tell you?” she asked, cocking her head. 

“No,” she jerked her head sharply.

Luz sucked in a long, deep breath. This was her moment, and the best one she was likely to get, even if it wasn’t exactly how she had envisioned it.

“I went for this…” she pulled her hands back and untied the pouch from her belt and held it out to Amity, who looked at it, confused, before glancing up at Luz, who motioned to the bag sitting in her open palm.

Hesitantly, Amity took it and unwound the string that held it closed before reaching inside. Luz watched her face turn confused but then it lit up with amazement as she opened her hand to look at the dragon scales sitting in her palm.

Their bright color, like that of freshly spilled blood, shined and sparkled in the vivid sunlight, almost seeming to glow against her pale skin. 

“Dragon scales,” Amity breathed as she rolled them around in her hand, watching the way they caught and fractured the light back at her, like little, red, polished mirrors. “Why did you need dragon scales? You don’t make elixirs or potions…” She looked back up at Luz.

“No… but you do,” she said as if that explained everything, and she was sure in Luz’s mind, it did. “They’re for you.”

“I don’t understand.” She looked up at Luz, who suddenly looked nervous as she scratched the back of her head, eyes flitted about the room, unable to look Amity in the eye. Finally, she took a deep breath.

“I wanted to offer you something worthwhile… I know I don’t have much, and can’t offer you anything like the horse guy but…,” she started, only for Amity to cut her off.

“Horse guy?” Amity was more confused by the moment.

“Oh, uh, Lord... Thy...?” Luz drawled out, trying to remember what Emira had said his name was. 

“Lord Thyrus?” Amity asked and then stiffened. Lord Thryus had presented her with twelve horses as his attempt at a courtship gift when her parents had invited him to visit Blight Manor. Luz said she couldn’t give as much as the ‘horse guy’. Was this…? Her face rapidly turned red.

“Is this…,” she hesitated, licking her suddenly dry lips. “Is this a… courtship gift?” Amity managed to whisper and watched as Luz’s face darkened at the question. 

“Yeah,” she gave a sharp nod. 

Amity’s mouth hung open in shock and Luz took the wide-eyed stare to mean something else entirely as she quickly jumped to fill the awkward silence.

“I know It’s not as impressive as the horses or whatever but I couldn’t come to you empty-handed and I just… I like you a lot, Amity. You’re the smartest person I know, and you’re so talented with runes… and beautiful, and…” she might have gone on for a while had Amity’s hand not wrapped around the back of her neck and yanked her down, crushing her lips firmly against hers.

Luz froze, blinking at Amity’s closed eyes for all of a second before she let her own flutter shut and set her hands on the witch's hips as she kissed her back. She had no idea what she was doing, but she’d always been a quick study.

It felt like forever and not near long enough simultaneously when Amity finally pulled back, though she didn’t stray far, nor release her hold on Luz’s neck, fingers tangling in the thick locks as gold eyes flickered open to look back into Luz’s surprised brown ones. 

“I like you too, Luz,” she mumbled and couldn’t help but smile at the dumbstruck look on the knight’s face.

“So…” Luz wasn’t sure what to do now. She hadn’t prepared for this at all.

“So… I accept your pursuit,” she said, watching the light flicker in Luz’s eyes as she processed the words and a bright smile split her face that set Amity’s already hammering heart to fluttering in her chest. “So long as you please, promise me not to go off fighting more dragons by yourself?”

Luz huffed a breathy laugh and nodded.

“I promise.” 

“Good… you’re a mess,” she said, pulling her hand back to run her thumb gently over the cuts and bruises that adorned her face, then frowned.

“What happened to your eyebrows?” she asked and Luz frowned.

“Is it really that bad?” she asked, wiggling her brow experimentally, making the noble giggle before she leaned up on her toes to press another kiss on her lips.


	15. Chapter 15

For a day stuck on boring old gate duty, Luz couldn’t be happier with life at the moment. She was financially secure for the time being, she hadn’t died fighting a dragon and Amity liked her back.

She was on a streak!

Amity had stayed in the stables for several hours, and after everything that needed to be said, had been, Luz had told her the tale of her battle, again, leaving out any parts where she screamed or acted like an idiot, more so then going off to fight a dragon alone already painted her to be anyway.

_“You are incredibly lucky it wasn’t full-grown,” Amity sighed from her place sitting next to her in the hay. The sun had vanished some time ago, leaving them to sit in the light of the warm, crackling fire._

_“Maybe next time I’ll join an expedition to hunt down a full-grown one. I kind of want to see how big they can actually get…,” she hummed and felt Amity stiffen beside her as she shot her a withering look._

_“Maybe not for a long while though…,” she chuckled nervously and gave the smaller hand in hers a gentle squeeze. Amity grunted in agreement. “I was thinking…,” Luz started after a moment of contented silence, drawing Amity’s curious gaze once more. “Maybe on my next day off, we could go and do something in town, together?” she asked._

_Amity’s face dropped and she glanced away, which made Luz frown._

_“I don’t think we should openly be seeing each other, Luz,” she finally said, looking up at Luz who felt like she’d just been punched in the gut., and it must have shown on her face by the way Amity’s expression fell further._

_“Are you… embarrassed of me?” she asked quietly, unable to look at her. A pair of hands grabbed her by the cheeks and forced her to turn and look at her. Amity’s face was set in a deep frown, brows furrowed over her eyes, almost angry._

_“No,” she said firmly. “No, Luz, I’m not. I…” her cheeks pinked as she stared back at Luz, but the serious expression only softened. “...I adore you,” she said quietly and Luz felt like she’d swallowed a sack of butterflies as she stared back into those bright gold eyes, glowing in the light cast by the fire._

_“But right now, you work for my family, and Bump would have to dismiss you from our employ to avoid a number of problems, and then I wouldn’t be able to see you unescorted and all our training and study lessons would be done,” she explained and Luz frowned, reaching up to cover one of the hands on her cheek beneath hers._

_“You're right,” she nodded, though she still frowned._

_“It won’t be forever, but I promise you, It has nothing to do with you,” Amity said, running her thumb across the cockatrice scar on her cheek as she looked up at her, and Luz could see that adoration in her eyes. Her chest constricted almost painfully at the intensity she found there. Everything was still so fresh, it was almost overwhelming, everything began to bubble up beneath her skin as Amity gazed at her that way._

_She swallowed and turned her head just enough to press her lips to Amity’s palm, making the noble jerk at the unexpected gesture, and her pink cheeks visibly darkened, even in the firelight, she couldn’t hide it and Luz smiled against her hand. It amazed her that she could elicit such reactions out of the usually poised and dignified noble._

_A flash of courage shot through her and she held Amity’s hand still and moved to plant another kiss against her wrist, over her pulse and Amity squeaked. Luz glanced at her and grinned at the flustered look on her face, pleased with herself as she watched the witch's ears twitch and flush all the way to their delicate points._

_“Luz… please,” she managed to mumble, though it was more akin to a whine, unable to look the knight in the eye and Luz jerked back, dropping her hand like it was a hot coal._

_“I’m sorry!” she yelped, stuffing her hands in her lap. What was she doing? They had literally been together all of three hours!_

_‘Get a hold of yourself’ she mentally scolded. Like everything, she was getting way ahead of herself. She had to reel this back in._

_“No! No, don’t be…” Amity pulled her hand back and held it to her chest, trying to expel all the nervous energy thrumming beneath her skin by sheer force of will alone. “Please, don’t be sorry. I just… I’m not used to…,” she trailed off, unsure how to express exactly that she wasn’t used to physical touch at all, far less the soft, tender kind that Luz had been lavishing on her so abruptly. Everything was so new and overwhelming and she needed more time to process it all._

_“I'm not used to… touch,” she finally admitted. “Not… not that kind.”_

_“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have…”_

_“No!” Amity quickly stopped that train of thought. The absolute last thing she wanted was to scare Luz off from all forms of physical affection. She liked it, even as she felt like she was reaching boiling point as Luz stared at her like that. Lips pressed to her wrist and half-lidded, brown eyes, molten in the flickering firelight._

_“Don’t be sorry, I want…,” she pursed her lips. How could she say she wanted Luz to touch her without it coming off needy, desperate, or… much too suggestive? Her face burned. “I just need time to adjust.” she finally settled on and Luz nodded._

_“Right, right, so-” Her eyes crossed as Amity pressed her finger to the tip of her nose._

_“Don’t… say you’re sorry one more time, Luz or I swear…” she trailed off, and while she sounded annoyed the corners of her lips were turned upward. Luz grinned back._

_“Okay.”_

Though she was a little disappointed that they couldn’t openly be together, for now at least, she would continue to enjoy their stolen moments together training or studying at night until this job had finished out. 

Speaking of, Jerbo, reached out with the butt of his pike and gave her a nudge in the ribs, jerking her out of her daydreams and nodding his head toward the manor. 

She glanced over her shoulder and perked as Amity came walking out of Blight manor’s great front door, but she wasn’t alone. Edric and Emira trailed along behind her, looking quite amused and Amity quite annoyed.

They had plans to go on a scenic little training expedition/hike to a place Luz had scouted out beforehand in the forests outside Bonesburough. Though those plans had not included the twins, it looked like they were about to and she frowned. She liked Edric and Emira, but she was really interested in spending time alone with Amity. 

Especially since the last few days Bump had her and a few others once more overseeing the outgoing shipments of bottles of abomination sludge that were being sent overseas to the war effort. That was where the Blight family’s wealth and prestige came from, they owned a large swath of land that had the perfect conditions for cultivating the goo, which was sold at a reduced price to the Emperor, and full price to everyone else. 

It was interesting to watch. A witch would press their hand to the vial and it would glow with their magic briefly before they threw it and from the purple goo a sentient creature, bound by its summoners magic would rise up to do their bidding.

She’d watched Amity do it a few times, showing Luz, who had tried to reproduce the effect with some glyphs, but no such luck. It was one of the things she was still working on. 

“I think I might need to postpone my trip to town today,” Amity told her carefully when she was finally standing beside her at the gate. Jerbo glanced at them before quickly averting his gaze elsewhere, pretending not to really notice them.

If Luz didn’t know better, she might think that Jerbo knew about her and Amity if the little offhand comments he’d been making to her the last couple of days were anything to go by, but there was no way, even if he had known about Luz’s feelings for her, how could he know about what had transpired in the stables three nights ago?

“Aw, come on, Mittens. No need to do that. We just want to come along, just today, we're so bored of being stuck inside,” Edric pleaded, pressing his cheek to Amity’s and fluttering his eyes.

“Yeah, please?” Emira pressed against her other side. Amity scowled, but turned her gaze back to Luz who gave a helpless shrug. They would have other moments to be alone, especially if they appeased the twins for now.

“Fine…,” she all but growled and the twins grinned victoriously at each other as Amity stalked out of the gate, her siblings followed behind as Luz shared a look with Jerbo before trailing along behind the three Blights. The day was warm, but the sky was filled with gray clouds, blocking out the majority of the final dregs of summer’s heat. 

Once they were a fair distance from town Luz trotted ahead to walk at Amity’s side, she was supposed to be the one leading the way anyway. 

“This wasn’t exactly how I pictured today going…I’m sorry,” Amity mumbled, drawing Luz’s gaze. 

She glanced at Amity and smiled, nudging her with her hip to make her look up at her.

“It’s okay, it’s not quite what I had planned either, but we’ll manage, and there will be other times,” she insisted. 

“We could work on your runic later…,” she offered hesitantly, a slight pink tinting her face, and Luz grinned.

“My stable door is open to you any night.” she smiled and Amity couldn’t help but smile back at her

“I bet it is,” They heard Emira stage whisper to her brother, and Amity flushed hotly.

“You’re lucky I let you come at all!” She yelled at them over her shoulder, making them snicker. Her ears were red to the tips and she looked like she might pass out at any given moment.

Luz hummed and glanced down at Amity’s fisted hand swinging at her side and hesitated a moment. They had only just started courting, and Amity had admitted that she wasn’t used to physical touch, much less affection. That didn’t mean she couldn’t ‘ask’ though. 

Amity grumbled to herself as they stalked down the road toward the forest outside of Bonesburough. All she had wanted was a quiet day, training with Luz, maybe just enjoying the pleasantly warm day together. 

Then her siblings had jumped her in the hall, asking where she was going. It was naive to think when she told them she was going out with Luz that the two would take a hint, knowing the changed nature of her and Luz’s relationship, and leave them alone. 

No, of course not. They insisted on coming along; naturally. 

Luz seemed fine with it, though not exactly thrilled. She’d have to do something to make up for it. This outing to some secret place had been Luz’s idea after all and her siblings had to go and ruin it. 

Their presence alone didn’t automatically ruin things, but she knew exactly how they would behave, she and Luz would have no peace; as they were already proving.

The twins were still snickering to themselves quietly and she was just about to whip around and make them go back when she felt something gently prodding at her left hand

She jolted, looking down to find Luz’s fingers tapping gently against her curled ones, a quiet request. She looked up at the knight, looking at her from the corner of her eye, a silent question as she lifted her brows, or rather, where they should have been as she prodded softly at her hand. It took her a moment to realize what Luz was after.

Amity smiled shyly to herself, face dusted pink now instead of the angry red it had been before as she uncurled her fingers and let Luz wrap her hand around hers. Luz gave a gentle squeeze and warm, fuzzy affection radiated from her hand through her whole body before Amity squeezed back.

“Aww, they’re being all cute, Ed,” Emira cooed and her brother laughed. 

Amity growled and started to whip around, ready to pounce but Luz tugged her back by their hands, squeezing gently. Amity grunted and turned back around, content to put her siblings out of her mind and enjoy the feeling of Luz’s hand wrapped around hers. 

They were half an hour into the woods, down a path that could only be barely described as such, overgrown with foliage as it was, that they heard it. 

It was quiet at first, low and distant, but it steadily grew louder until the quiet rushing sound had them all looking.

Amity tugged on Luz’s hand drawing her attention. 

“What is that?” she turned toward the knight, who grinned.

“You’ll see in a second,” she promised, looking quite pleased with herself as they broke through the treeline and found themselves standing in a clearing that butted up to the banks of a river, but what really drew Amity's attention was at the head of the river.

A large waterfall poured over a ledge in some rocks, feeding the river as it rushed past them in gentle currents. 

"Oh wow!" The twins quickly took off running for the edge of the large pool the waterfall dropped into. The water was crystal clear and they could even see the fish swimming through the deep water.

The fall itself was just far enough away that its roaring wasn't very loud, it also wasn't near tall enough to cause the great calamity of noise that they were known for. 

Its water fell in a smooth curtain of bright, clear water and hit the plunge pool in a rush of bubbles and sounds, throwing droplets of water into the air where the sunlight hit them, throwing up little rainbows.

"Oh… how did you find this place?" Amity asked in clear awe that made Luz smile brightly

"I took King out one day to stretch his legs and he ended up chasing a jackalope all the way from the edge of town to here. It's a little further than our normal training spot, but I thought… you might like it." She shrugged but was smiling, though the harder Amity peered at her, the more she realized how strained it was. Luz was nervous.

"It's beautiful, Luz," Amity assured her, squeezing the hand still in hers before breaking away to wiggle her way out of her dress, training clothes already in place beneath the ugly green and gold monstrosity her mother had bought for her.

"I hope you didn't go and get soft on me while I was gone." Luz grinned as she tossed the noble's training blade to her. Amity caught and scoffed, tying the scabbard to her waist.

“It’s only been six days…” She rolled her eyes at the knight.

Luz drew her training sword and gave it a twirl before holding up her left hand and crooked her finger at Amity, beckoning her forward with a smirk.

“Let’s see then.”

Amity paused, blade half drawn at that, and felt her face turn warm. That wasn’t anything new for Luz. The teasing and playful gestures or looks, but now it felt like they had taken on a whole new tone and meaning, at least it felt like they had for Amity. She couldn’t tell if Luz was actually acting any different or not. 

She heard her brother and sister snickering at her somewhere over her shoulder, and ignored them, pulling the blade free and taking up the stance Luz had taught her. 

Luz hummed to herself. She could see how flustered that one little thing had made the noble. Before, Amity would just roll her eyes at her or scoff, but their recent change in relationship seemed to have put a bit of a kink in Amity’s concentration.

Luz smirked to herself, another valuable teaching opportunity.

Amity’s eyes narrowed as she saw the smirk pulling at Luz‘s face, but before she could say anything, the knight winked at her and Amity paused, the fading flush darkening, and then before she could even think, Luz had darted forward, bringing the training blade down so fast, Amity barely caught it with her own, twisting the blade in her grip, trying in vain to push Luz back, who only grinned at her.

“Concentrado, Hermosa,” she mumbled and Amity blinked, having no idea what she had just said but something about the lilt on that last word made her face bloom with heat. 

“You’re doing this on purpose!” she hissed under her breath, well aware of her siblings sitting in the grass by the water, watching them practice.

“Maaaaybe,” Luz drawled, still grinning. Amity grunted, scowling. "A lesson in concentration, Hermosa," she said, jumping back, the sudden release of pressure caused Amity to stumble forward.

She scowled hotly at Luz, who just grinned, holding up her training sword.

They circled each other slowly before Amity darted forward and they exchanged a few strikes, Luz blocking them all easily, not bothering to return any of her own before, Amity twisted her blade to lock again with Luz's, holding her in place long enough to hiss at her.

"Take this seriously!"

"I am taking this seriously, can't you tell?" She grinned and wagged her brows at her and Amity frowned.

"It's hard to tell without your eyebrows," she grumbled and Luz frowned.

"See if I fight a dragon for you again," she huffed, shoving Amity back.

"I didn't want you to fight the first one!” she snapped.

“Fight, fight, fight!” Edric cheered from the side and Emira slapped him upside the back of the head. 

“They're already fighting, you idiot.” 

“Sounds like they’re actually fighting now.” Edric rubbed the back of his head and the two dueling stopped. 

“We’re not fighting… are we?” Luz frowned and turned back to look at Amity, who jerked, not realizing just how heated she had been getting at the idea of Luz not taking her seriously. 

Like the guards, like other nobles, like her parents…

Amity hesitated to answer and Luz lowered her blade, crossing the couple feet between them quickly.

“Amity?” she asked. “Are you mad at me?” 

“I’m not mad at you!” she hurried to assure her but she hesitated, looking away from Luz, who only continued to frown down at her, wondering if she had somehow just messed everything up already. “I just… it doesn’t seem like you take me seriously when we spar,” she finally admitted.

“I take you seriously! I was just messing around…”

“That’s just it Luz, if you took me seriously, if I was a credible threat, you wouldn’t be playing around.” she looked back up at her.

“I do take you seriously, Amity. It’s just…,” she hummed, reaching up to scratch the back of her head, unsure how to put it. “You’re just starting, and I’ve been doing this for years, I don’t mean for it to come off mocking or anything, it’s just I…” Luz knew what she wanted to say, but she didn’t want to say it.

Oh so luckily for her, Emira was there to help her out.

“Luz is a knight, Amity. She killed a damn dragon, and you’re a novice who’s been training for like, a month?” she said and Luz grimaced as Amity scowled. 

“I’ve managed to get a few shots in before!”

“We’ve watched some of your matches before, Mittens. She’s definitely letting you land those shots,” Edric, also, unhelpfully piped up.

“She is not!” she snapped, but quickly noticed how quiet Luz was and turned to her. She was frowning and looking anywhere but Amity. “Luz?” 

“Um…,” she hesitated, playing with the hilt of her training sword.

“Do you?!” she asked, face an odd mix of anger and surprise. “So you don’t take me seriously either?” she frowned, trying to ignore the stab in her chest at that. Of everyone, she thought Luz at least had. She turned away, unable to look at the knight.

“I do! It’s not that I don’t take you seriously, Amity. I just…” 

“You all are loud, ya know that?” 

They all looked up at the new voice as it approached.

“Viney!?” Luz blinked as the blacksmith approached them. “What are you doing out here?” 

“I like to come out here and look for bits of ore to try and make new stuff out of. There's a cave over by the waterfall that has some decent veins of silver in it.” She jerked her thumb over her shoulder to a dark spot in the rocks beside the waterfall. "What are you doing all the way out here?" She asked looking between them.

"Just training…"

"But we're done now…," Amity cut in and held her sword out to Luz, who frowned sadly, but took it. Amity quickly moved over to sit on a rock at the river's edge. Viney glanced between them and the tense atmosphere, she’d caught most of the argument from a distance, and she was pretty sure where Luz was coming from but maybe Amity needed a demonstration?

“How bout a spar then, Luz?” she asked and the knight turned back to her.

“You fight, Viney?”

“You think I just make a bunch of stuff I don’t know how to use?” she asked, planting a fist on her cocked hip as she grinned at Luz. 

The knight glanced over at Amity, sitting on the rock and looking at the water. Edric just shrugged and Emira frowned, glancing nervously between her sister and the blacksmith. She sighed and nodded.

“Yeah, sure.” She held out Amity’s training blade and the smith took it.

They quickly put a few feet between them and raised their blades. Luz could already tell by the blacksmith’s grip and stance that she definitely knew how to fight and a moment later Viney was dashing forward, swinging her blade. Luz caught it deftly against her own, but Viney didn’t hold the lock, jerking back, and immediately the two were exchanging lightning blows.

“Whoa!” Edric sat up and Emira watched starry-eyed as the two moved around the clearing clashing blades in loud clangs and the occasional spark. Amity glanced over her shoulder and upon catching a glance of the two turned around, eyes wide as she watched them move rapidly, exchanging blows that even with the dulled blades would do serious damage if one of them landed. She couldn’t imagine ever being able to strike and doge at the speed the two were moving around each other, every move calculated and precise. 

She frowned, hands clenching into the fabric of her pants. 

The blades smashed together with crippling forced and locked, both straining against each other. Luz was much taller, but Viney for all her time spent working the forge was undeniably stronger.

“Whoo, go, Luz!” Edric cheered, watching the two, muscles flexed and straining visibly in their sleeveless tunics. He glanced at his twin, watching the blacksmith open-mouthed. 

“Em?” he called, but his twin didn’t move. He glanced at the blacksmith and grinned wickedly. 

Their feet slowly slid through the dirt as they tried to overpower the other.

Suddenly Luz spun on a heel, dislodging her blade from Viney’s and the other woman’s force sent her flying forward with no resistance to stop her and tumbled into the dirt. 

She quickly rolled over but the tip of the training blade was pressed to her neck, just enough force to prick at her skin as she stared up at Luz’s serious face. She chuckled beneath her heavy breathing and held up her hands.

“I yield.” The blade disappeared and Luz grinned before offering the smith her hand. The smith took it with a grin of her own and let Luz haul her to her feet.

“You are good, Viney!” Luz praised and the smith picked up her dropped blade.

“I get a lot of practice, not that I had any delusions about beating someone who solo hunted a dragon,” she grinned. Luz chuckled.

“It wasn’t nearly as impressive as you make it sound,” she admitted. The smith just gave her a look as she handed Amity’s blade back over to her. 

“I doubt that…,” before she could finish her sentence a loud rumble of thunder overhead made them all turn their eyes skyward. The clouds looked dark and heavy with rain.

“We better go…,” Luz started, just for whatever else she was going to say to be cut off by another peal of thunder, and not ten seconds later the sky opened up in a torrential downpour.

Emira shrieked and Amity jumped up.

“To the cave!” Viney shouted, running for the entrance as the rest followed along behind her. 

They skittered inside just as another rumble of thunder shook the sky and the rain seemed to pour down even harder. 

“Well, not what I had planned for the day,” Viney grumbled, moving to find some things to start a fire.

“Well, ya know… rain…,” Emira laughed nervously and Edric looked at his sister. Viney just nodded.

Luz pushed back her damp hair out of her face as she watched the rain pour down outside in sheets, obscuring everything beyond the mouth of the cave, and sighed. How had everything taken such a sour turn? 

She’d just wanted to spend the day with Amity, now she was mad at her, apparently not talking to her, and now it was pouring rain. She leaned her shoulder against the stone wall and watched the rain, frowning. Maybe she was not good at this.

Amity stood a little farther back, arms crossed and glancing at the knight's back. 

Viney got a fire blazing to life and plopped down next to the twins and turned to Emira.

“I haven’t seen you back in my shop, ever think about what kind of weapon you might wanna try?” she asked. 

“Weapon?” Edric echoed, 

“Oh, ah...hm, arms…,” Emira hummed, glancing between the blacksmith’s arms and face. Viney cocked her head curiously. 

“What?”

Emira flushed red as Edric choked on his snickering. 

“What kind of arms do you recommend?!” she squawked. 

Amity glanced at her sister and rolled her eyes before turning them back to Luz, who was still leaning against the stone wall, watching the rain. She frowned to herself.

After watching Luz and Viney fight, she finally had a much better understanding of where she stood skill-wise, which was to say, a complete novice with a month or several hours training every couple days or so under her belt in comparison to Luz’s almost six years of living it daily. 

Of course she’d been holding back on her, she would have destroyed her otherwise. 

She felt like an ass. 

She’d let the family arrogance that had been hammered into her head her whole life, the push and need to show she was the best at everything cloud her reasoning. There were people who were better at her at things, there always would be, no matter what her parents said and there was no shame in that. Luz worked hard to achieve her level of skill, and to think herself anywhere close to resembling an equal was pure arrogance on her part, as well as belittling to Luz’s work.

She grimaced to herself. Then she’d yelled at her when Luz only ever tried to be helpful and brought her out here so they could have time together, instead they’d just ended up fighting.

Well, Amity had just ended up yelling at her…

She glanced once more at her siblings and Viney, and seeing the three totally preoccupied, for vastly different reasons, as Emira stammered and Edric snickered, while Viney just looked confused, she stood and moved quietly to the entrance of the cavern.

She shuffled up beside the knight, who didn’t seem to notice her at first as she watched the rain, holding the hilt of Amity’s training sword in her hands, tip dug into the ground. 

“Hey,” she called softly. Luz jerked, turning to peer down at her.

“Oh… hey,” she murmured, turning her eyes back out to the rain, afraid of what Amity might say.

“Luz, I’m sorry, for yelling at you and being...well, ungrateful for one thing…,” she said quietly, prompting Luz to turn back to her. “Emira was right, it was foolish and arrogant to think I could even hold a candle to you. Of course you were going easy on me…I wouldn’t take me seriously either,” she grumbled, turning to look at the rain, unable to hold Luz’s gaze another moment. 

They were quiet for a moment before she felt a familiar prodding at her hand and saw Luz’s hand reaching out, fingers nudging gently at hers and she opened her hand, letting the knight take hold of her hand as she looked up at her.

“I told you, I do take you seriously, Amity.” she began. “I never meant for it to seem like I didn’t, or that I was patronizing you by letting you get me a few times, I just didn’t want you to get discouraged and give up.” She turned to face her, adjusting her grip to slot her fingers between Amity’s. “You’re making good progress, it’s just… I’ve been doing this a long time and I didn’t want to overwhelm you or make you feel bad because you couldn’t keep up with me. I think you could be really good at this, in time. You’re already really good at so many things, after all, I know you can do this too, and I’m sorry if I made you feel like I wasn’t giving you the consideration you deserve,” she said, squeezing the noble’s hand. Amity shook her head.

“No, you were right. I was getting ahead of myself… I’m just…” she trailed off and Luz squeezed her hand again, reassuringly and she sighed, turning her gaze back up to those deep brown eyes she found herself getting so lost in recently, looking back at her with quiet understanding. “I’m used to everyone around me treating me like I’m made of damn glass like I couldn’t possibly do this just because of my station,” she bit out. 

“I understand. All I heard for years was that I couldn’t possibly be a knight, It was dangerous, I was human, I couldn’t do magic,… all that fun stuff,” she huffed, pulling Amity by their joined hands a little closer. She could feel the knight’s body heat radiating off her. “I promise, I take you fully into consideration when we train and I’ll stop messing around,” she hummed quietly. 

Amity couldn’t help but smile fondly up at Luz.

“Thank you… but it’s alright, I’m not near ready for the kind of intensity like your spar with Viney,” she easily admitted and Luz grinned. “I didn’t give your skills the respect they deserve, that won’t happen again, besides… I don’t mind so much with you… the teasing…,” she mumbled, the tips of her ears turning pink as they twitched ever so slightly. 

Luz grinned, leaning down closer.

“I won’t tease you much, Hermosa.” she breathed and a shiver shot up Amity’s spine as she felt Luz’s warm breath fan out across her face gently. She reached up and pressed a hand to the knight’s face, pushing her away as her whole face reddened.

“Stop it, what does that even mean!?” she squeaked as Luz laughed, pulling her a little closer, Amity did not resist.

“It’s a human tongue my Mami taught me. Hermosa means beautiful.” She smiled as Amity’s face darkened and her ears began to twitch and wiggle in earnest and Luz was struck by the urge to reach up and run her fingers over the gentle points but contained herself. 

Before Amity could even begin to think of a reply to that, they both jumped as Emira made a loud strangled noise and shot past them out into the rain. 

“I’ll take my chances in the storm!” she wailed. 

“Em, come back!" Edric called after his twin, still laughing near uncontrollably as he ran out after her.

Luz and Amity blinked before turning back to look at Viney, still sitting by the fire, looking confused.


	16. Chapter 16

“A hunting trip?” Bump hummed, regarding Amity on the opposite side of his desk carefully. 

“Yes, I’ve been thinking about this little excursion for some time now, having been kept inside for so long since mother and father left and according to their letters they're going to be gone a little while longer than they planned, but it’s been months and I spend most of my time in this manor. I just wish to get out for a little while, and thought Luz might be the perfect accompaniment for it,” Amity said with practiced ease. Luz just stood back by the door, watching the two. “It would only be for the night, and Luz assures me she knows of a perfectly safe place for us to stay.”

Bump glanced between Amity and Luz, stroking his chin thoughtfully before his eyes were drawn to the cleaned dragon skull mounted on his wall Luz had brought him almost two months ago.

“Very well, Luz has proven herself more than capable, and I trust you to be careful,” he said to Amity seriously, who had to bite back on the excited sound that threatened to come out of her mouth at his agreement. She had hoped but hadn't expected him to agree at all.

"Thank you, Sir Bump," Amity thanked him, smiling brightly and he nodded. "We'll leave at dawn."

"I'll expect you back by nightfall, day after next." He held up a finger and Amity nodded.

"Of course." She nodded.

"Very well, have a good time, Amity." His eyes flickered to Luz and the knight blinked as he looked at her with a strange look. Luz could swear the corners of his wrinkled mouth were twisting up the edges, but before she could decide or not, Amity was walking quickly past her.

"Come with me please, Luz. I could use your assistance packing a few things." She shot her a look Bump couldn't see as she passed through the door of his study, locking eyes for a brief moment before Luz turned her gaze back on Bump and nodded before following Amity out.

They were silent as they walked quickly and quietly down the halls and into Amity"s room. Luz shut the door behind her and the moment she turned back around Amity's arms wrapped her neck and her lips pressed seamlessly against hers.

Liz grinned into the kiss and wrapped her arms around the noble's waist, lifting her off her feet and into a giddy spin across the room. 

Amity buried her face into the knight's neck, trying to muffle her delighted squealing, lest someone hear them and come running to check what all her yelling was about.

"Luz, put me down before someone hears!" she hissed out between giggles. Luz didn't let go of her, but she did set her back on the ground, arms still wrapped tightly around her as Amity tangled the fingers of one hand into the short, thick hair on the back of her head, the other held onto her shoulder. 

"I can't believe he gave us the go-ahead!" Luz grinned, forehead pressed to Amity's, who couldn’t help but grin back as Luz squeezed her tightly to her.

“He seems rather fond of you, I’m sure giving him that dragon head helped elevate his opinion of you as well.” She smirked at the knight, who just shrugged. 

“Doesn't matter why, he said you could go and we can finally have some peace and quiet, together,” she said quietly, reaching a hand up to cup Amity’s jaw, thumb swiping back and forth across her cheek. Amity hummed in agreement, eyes fluttering closed, enjoying the soft ministrations.

The longer their relationship went on the more and more time they simply wanted to spend in the other’s presence, but that proved more than a little difficult when Amity couldn’t leave the manor unescorted and they realized they were probably being much too obvious, Amity calling on Luz nearly every other day to train or just spend time together under the guise of going someplace or another in town could only last so long before Bump or the other guards wondered why she went to the archives, market or the apothecary so much since her friendship with Willow was also a secret. They’d had to significantly back off their time together for a bit during the day/ Though, that hadn’t stopped Amity from sneaking into the stables at night.

They didn’t get near as much runic work done as they used to. They tried but seemed to find far more interesting things to keep themselves busy with, like in the form of acclimating Amity to being more comfortable with touch. 

Though, not always in the ways Amity thought or wanted.

_“So if you read these together they make?” Amity questioned looking up at Luz from her place laying against her chest as both leaned back in the hay pile that was Luz’s bed._

_“Poison,” the knight said confidently and Amity hummed, making her frown. “It’s poison… right?” she looked at her, frowning and Amity chuckled, nodding._

_“Yes,” she said, flipping a few pages in the hefty enchantment book. They had gone over most of it in the last six weeks, there wasn’t really anything left for Amity to teach her now. Luz had the basics and was learning to decipher even more advanced runes on her own._

_She snapped the book closed and leaned her head back on Luz’s shoulder, the human’s arms tightened their grip around her waist._

_King laid in the corner, half dozing and half watching them through lidded eyes._

_“I don’t think there's anything left for me to teach you, I think you’ve got most of it all down on your own now,” she finally admitted aloud. She knew the day had been coming, Luz was more than smart, and she was just as quick a study as Amity was. Between the two of them, she had walked Luz through the majority of basic runic knowledge and now she was able to read most of it on her own._

_“I think so, but only because you’re such a good teacher, Hermosa,” Luz said, nuzzling her face against Amity’s, making her chuckle._

_“Don’t sell yourself short, Luz. You’re quite good at runic now that you’ve got the basics down,” she hummed, eyes closing as she sunk back into the knight’s warmth._

_"I still say I had a fantastic teacher too." Luz pressed a kiss to her cheek and could feel Amity’s ear twitching against her cheek. It hadn’t taken long at all to deduce the meaning of the ear twitching._

_Luz ducked her head back and hummed to herself. She glanced at Amity, eyes still closed in contented peace, and pulled back one of her arms, but the noble didn’t move._

_Until Luz reached up and touched one of her soft, pointed ears, dragging her index finger down the shell of it._

_Amity nearly jumped out of her skin, spinning around in the knight’s lap to look at her, eyes wide and face beet red._

_“Luz!”_

_“What?!” The knight threw up her hands, blinking._

_“You can’t just… just… touch my ears,” she stuttered, barely more than a whisper hissed under her breath and Luz blinked owlishly at her._

_“You touch my ears all the time…?” Luz cocked her head._

_“Your ears aren’t…!” she stopped, still flushing as she looked elsewhere before taking a deep breath and finally locking eyes with Luz again. “Your ears aren’t sensitive like mine…,” she mumbled and Luz frowned, watching her._

_“I’m sorry…”_

_“No… no, don’t be I just… wasn’t ready.” she pursed her lips._

_“Are you ready now?”_

_Amity looked at her with wide, gold eyes and seemed to be thinking for a long moment. Luz was about to tell her it was okay, she didn’t need to touch her ears, she was only curious, but the noble nodded._

_“Yes,”_

_“Are you sure? I don’t need to.” Luz lifted a hand, hesitating. She was just touching her ears, but something about this felt so… personal. Amity’s face was scarlet but she reached out and took hold of the hand hovering in the air and moved it to the shell of her left ear. Luz felt her shudder but didn’t push it away as Amity’s own hand dropped away._

_Luz looked at her again, seeking reassurance, Amity just looked back at her from half-lidded eyes that glowed in the light of the nearby, dimming fire. Luz swallowed and ran her thumb along the soft shell of Amity’s ear and felt it twitch slightly beneath the featherlight brush of skin on skin. She trailed her fingers gently over the tip and Amity leaned further into the touch, a small humming noise vibrated in her throat and a chill shot straight down Luz’s spine, making her whole body tingle._

_Suddenly the atmosphere in the stables had changed completely from the relaxed, calm it had been just a few minutes ago. Now, the air felt charged with an energy Luz couldn’t quite put a finger to. She reached up with her other hand and ran her thumbs over both of the nobles twitching ears. She watched, fascinated as the light flush that stretched across Amity’s cheeks dipped all the way down her neck, and her eyes had all but closed._

_Her ears were soft and warm, or was Luz just warm? It definitely felt a lot hotter in here than it had a minute ago. Luz was sure if she wasn’t holding them the appendages would be fluttering all over the place._

_“Luz…,” Amity whimpered, breathy and high-pitched and the knight froze. Her whole face bursting into red as Amity’s eyes shot open to stare at her in abject horror and embarrassment, the delicate flush turned crimson and her hands shot up to wrap around the knight’s wrists, pulling them away._

_“T-that's enough, I think…,”_

_“Oh...Y-Yeah.” she nodded, neither able to look the other in the eye as Amity kept a tight hold of Luz’s wrists._

_Luz didn’t know if she should apologize or not. Amity glanced at her and quickly picked up on her unsure look and despite her still, red face leaned forward and pressed a brief kiss to the knight's lips._

_“It’s fine,” she mumbled, releasing her wrists._

_“Are all witches' ears so sensitive or is it just because you’re so sensitive to touch?” she mumbled._

_“All witches have sensitive ears but I think mine are more so.” She nodded, still not looking at Luz, who frowned. The tenseness in the air had lessened, but there was still a certain atmosphere hanging about, one Luz wanted quickly to dispel._

_“You’re just pretty sensitive in general,” she finally said and Amity did look at her at that._

_“How so?”_

_Luz grinned and Amity realized what was happening a second too late as Luz dug her hands into her ribs making her squeal as her nerves jumped beneath Luz’s fingers_

_“Stoooop!” she screeched beneath her uncontrollable giggling, jerking to try and roll out of Luz’s reach._

_“Ask nicely!” Luz laughed, following Amity as she slipped off her lap onto the floor, never ceasing the digging of her fingers along the noble’s sides as she tried to kick her away._

_“I’m going to kill you!” Amity roared as tears welled up in her eyes and she gasped around her laughter._

_“Try again, Hermosa,” Luz grinned as Amity weakly swatted at her with flailing hands while also trying to remove Luz’s, but her weak grip was useless._

_“Luz!”_

_Luz giggled but finally pulled her hands away, leaving Amity laying on the stable floor, wheezing for breath._

_“You are… the worst!” she panted, glaring up at her. Luz just grinned down at her._

_“Sorry, sorry!” she snickered and held out her hand. Amity glared at it as if waiting for it to reach out and bite her but sighed and finally slipped one of hers into it and Luz hauled her up and right back into her lap. Amity crossed her arms and refused to look at her, pouting._

_“I’m sorry, Amity!” she whined, but the grin still pulling at her lips told a different story altogether. Amity huffed, leaning into her chest, though still pointedly not looking at her._

_“Shut up,” she grumbled, burying her face into the knight's neck. She felt more than heard the knight’s low chuckle._

“Do you actually need help with anything or was this just a way to lure me into your bedroom?” Luz asked with a grin. Amity shoved a hand in her face, pushing away the grinning knight.

“Shut up!” she scowled, face red. “I just… wanted a moment before you went back to duty,” she grumbled and Luz smiled at her, grabbing her wrist and pulling her hand off her face to press a kiss to her knuckles.

“All you had to do was ask,” she said with a lopsided grin, making Amity huff, rolling her eyes fondly. 

“Stay for a minute…,” her voice was low, almost bashful as she laid her cheek against the knight's chest. 

“Ok,” Luz just hummed, squeezing her close and dropping her chin gently atop her head. Luz was toasty warm and Amity sucked up close, though, not just for the warmth she brought.

Autumn was in full swing and the manor could be a little drafty at times, not that Amity really needed an excuse to let Luz wrap herself around her. It was good to have one though.

Luz grinned to herself as she buried her face in the noble’s mint green hair, after a few minutes it didn’t seem like Amity intended to let her go anytime soon though. 

“Amity…”

“I know…,” the noble sighed, she could hear the grin in Luz’s voice as she pulled her head off her chest. “I should pack some things…” 

“Do you actually know how to hunt?” Luz cocked her head.

“I’ve been on a few, but they weren’t really hunting the way I’m sure you’re used to. Mostly, servants pre-caught something and injured it so I could shoot it. My father’s idea of sport.” She rolled her eyes and Luz hummed. 

“Well, you have a longbow right?” she asked and Amity nodded. “Well, then I’ll teach you, and we can just have a good time,” she said and Amity smiled, leaning up on her toes to press a chaste kiss to her smiling mouth. 

“I can’t wait," she murmured.

"It’ll be - "

The door slammed open, making them both jump, but not quick enough to separate before the twins were grinning at them from the doorway. 

“Well, well, well, what’s going on in here?” Edric grinned as they stepped in, closing the door behind them.

“A little liaison in the middle of the day?” Emira teased. “Scandalous, Mittens.”

“Will you both, learn to knock!” Amity snapped, stepping out of Luz’s arms to turn and glare at her siblings. 

“What are you doing here, Luz?” Emira ignored her sister to turn and address the knight.

“Yeah, you almost never come in the house,” Edric piped up, crossing his arms. 

“We were talking to Bump.” 

“Oh, what about?”

“Uh…” Luz glanced between the two before looking questioningly at Amity.

"Just a trip to town," she lied easily. There was no way in hell she was going to give the twins an opportunity to try and insert themselves into this trip that was meant to be just her and Luz; alone. She tried not to think about that for the moment, lest her face give her away to her siblings.

“Oh yeah, ‘town’.” Edric finger quoted, grinning at them.

“We’re actually just going to the market in the morning, guys. The book shop is getting another batch of the Azura book and we want to make sure we're there early enough to go get one,” Luz quickly cut off before Emira could add her own thoughts. 

“You two really belong together,” Emira rolled her eyes. “You’re both really boring…,” she huffed.

“I’m disappointed in you, Luz.” Edric shook his head and sighed dramatically. 

“Just get out!” Amity fumed. The twins snickered but did leave.

“Behave you two,” Emira called over her shoulder before closing the door. Amity rolled her eyes but turned to look up at Luz.

“You lied quite quickly and convincingly there.” She cocked a brow at her and Luz grinned, jerking a shoulder up in a half shrug. 

“It got them out of here didn’t it?” she asked, wagging her newly grown in eyebrows. Amity rolled her eyes.

"You probably need to get back to your duties now…" 

"Oh, right, yeah." Luz nodded and Amity leaned up on her toes to press a quick kiss to her cheek.

"I'll see you just before dawn tomorrow."

Luz nodded and turned to hurry out of the room, back to her post. Once she was gone, Amity hurried over to her desk and took out the one thing she wanted to make sure she didn’t forget tomorrow. A small box made of pale, pinewood and tied carefully shut with twine. It had taken time and a deep delve into her old study notes from her time with Lilith, but she had tested it multiple times and was quite pleased with herself.

She held it to her chest tightly, smiling to herself. 

Hopefully, Luz would like it.

~ ~

It was quite cool and the sky was only beginning to turn a brighter shade of blue as the sun slowly crept up over the distant horizon. They set off the next morning with Sir Bump there to see them off at the front gate, both mounted on Singe and King dawdling along at the horse's side.

“Be extra diligent in your care of her,” he said, frowning up at Luz, who grinned and gave a salute. 

“I’d never let anything happen to her, Sir Bump,” she promised and he nodded before turning his gaze to Amity, sitting in the saddle behind her, the hood of her cloak pulled down over her bright, mint green hair, the auburn roots having grown in quite a bit without her mother around to force her to color it. 

“Enjoy yourself and be careful.” A slight smile pulled at his lips and Amity smiled back, nodding, then Luz was digging her heels into Singe’s sides and they were heading away from the city walls and Blight Manor, into the cool morning air and toward the quiet forest. 

Once the walls were no longer in view, Amity threw off her hood and leaned into Luz, wrapping her arms around her waist and setting her chin on the knight’s shoulder.

“So, where exactly are we going?” she asked, closing her eyes and just enjoying the quiet ride and the knight’s body heat soaking into her to help ward off the mid-autumn chill.

“Viney told me about some land her family owns that she said we could use. It has lots of game and a storage barn we can sleep in,” Luz said brightly, glancing at her over her shoulder and smiling at the drowsy eyed noble. “If you’re tired, sleep, Amity. I’ll wake you up when we get there. 

“I don’t want to leave you on your own the whole trip,” she mumbled, even as her eyelids drooped lower. Luz reached down and wrapped her hand around one of the ones looped securely around her waist and slotted her fingers between Amity’s. 

“You’re not, we have the whole trip to be together, an hour spent napping on a horse is not going to hurt my feelings any, Hemorsa,” Luz promised her, squeezing her hand. 

Amity hummed, the gentle bouncing of the horse and the warmth radiating off Luz was slowly but surely lulling her back into sleep. 

A few minutes later, soft, warm breaths were blowing across Luz’s neck and Amity’s grip on her waist had gone limp. Luz smiled to herself, gently squeezing Amity’s hand wrapped in hers as they rode along, King trotting along quickly beside them. 

Her whole body tingled pleasantly with that unmitigated and all-consuming affection she felt for Amity. It baffled her, how three months ago she could feel the other woman’s annoyance at her, bubbling over like boiling water anytime they happened to cross paths, and now when she caught Amity looking at her, there was nothing but soft, tender affection in those warm, gold eyes and it did all kinds of terrible things to Luz’s stomach and great things to her heart. She’d never felt so wholly adored the way she did when she was with the witch. 

Some days she could barely function. They would be training or just sitting together and she would catch sight of Amity in a certain light or at a specific angle and whatever else she was doing would come to a screeching halt as her mind all but puttered to an abrupt stop, suddenly overwhelmed with deep affection. 

Last week she had finally figured it out. 

_Luz jumped back, narrowly missing another of Amity’s strike. The noble made another frustrated sound as they danced around the clearing, exchanging blows. Luz blocked the occasional strike that got too close with her blade. Mostly, she just ducked or dodged out of the way of most of the noble’s advances._

_“Come on, Amity, I know you can do better than that!” she teased, laughing to herself as she dodged another strike and decided to return with a few of her own._

_Amity stumbled back, suddenly on the defensive from a series of quick attacks she could only just barely keep from smacking her point-blank._

_She managed to catch Luz’s blade with hers, twisting it to lock the two in place, the way she had seen Luz do so many times before. She needed to find a way to throw Luz off and give herself time to make a play. Her mind raced with possibilities when one struck her hard in the face as Luz leaned in close._

_“Had enough yet, Hermosa?” Luz drawled with a grin, but then Amity smirked and leaned in even closer. Luz could feel her rapid breath fanning across her face._

_“Enough of you? Never, darling.” it was almost a purr and Luz nearly swallowed her tongue as her breath hitched and her heart skipped a beat or two as Amity gave her a sharp, smoldering look that set her insides aflame._

_Suddenly, the noble grinned and winked before dropping and sweeping Luz's feet out from under her._

_Her back hit the ground with a thump, but she quickly rolled over, scrabbling for her sword when the tip of Amity’s pressed into the underside of her chin._

_She stiffened and let the pressure of the blade tip beneath her jaw slowly raise her head up to look at the smirking noble standing above her._

_"I win," she declared with a teasing little smirk that only furthered to tighten the knot in Luz's gut._

_“You cheated…,” she grumbled, face red._

_“Whatever did I do?” Amity asked. Face, a mask of feigned innocence._

_“You know what you did…,” Luz hissed, making Amity grin._

_“Tell me what I did, Luz.” The grin only turned all the more wicked and Luz’s face all the redder as she stared up into those amused, gold eyes. How were you supposed to accuse someone of intentionally trying to turn you on to win a spar?!_

_Luz huffed, turning her head away, unable to look at the noble anymore and Amity laughed, pulling away the blade to crouch in front of Luz._

_“I’m sorry, Luz. You’re right, that wasn’t fair, it was underhanded.” she reached out to wipe some dirt off the knight’s cheek and smiled at her._

_That familiar wave of affection went crashing straight through Luz, tugging at all the strings in her heart. She huffed, sitting up on her knees to_

_“It really was… but so is this!” Luz tossed herself forward and Amity shrieked as the knight toppled them both back to the ground and she pressed a searing kiss to Amity’s lips. The noble didn’t resist, dropping her sword and wrapping her arms around Luz’s neck. Luz couldn’t help but grin to herself and the feeling of Amity’s fingers on her neck, tugging her all the closer._

_“You’re right,… that wasn’t fair either,” Amity panted as she was finally released from the lip-locke but was smiling up at her and that pang shot through Luz’s chest._

_‘Titan, I love her.’_

_Luz jerked back, eyes wide as her mind actually caught up to that thought. It had been so sudden and just, floated into her mind like it was the most natural thing in the world._

_Love? Did she love Amity? She refocused on the woman lying beneath her, looking worried now._

_“Luz? Are you okay?” Amity’s brows furrowed between her eyes as she looked up at her, gold eyes searching her face worriedly._

_“YeAh…,” her voice cracked as she looked down at Amity and came to the solid conclusion that yes, she did love her. She loved everything about her._

_The way she talked and laughed, the way her brow scrunched up when she was trying to concentrate. Her determination and tenacity were the stuff of legends, Amity didn’t give up and she was brilliant. There was no problem the noble couldn’t puzzle out given enough time._

_There was also of course the way she cared for Luz. Soft, tender, and gentle, when they weren’t beating on each other with training swords that was._

_Luz could hardly think of a time she had been so cared for as with Amity. Probably her mother, though in a very different way. She admired Amity more than she would probably ever know._

_As he stared down at her, Luz came to a solid conclusion; yes._

_She was in love with Amity Blight._

_“Luz?” Amity called again, her hands that had been wrapped around the knight’s neck pulled back enough to run through her hair soothingly._

_“I’m fine,” she cleared her throat and sat back up, pulling Amity up with her. “Just… just think I landed a little hard on my knee is all,” she lied. She was still trying to work it out herself, she wasn’t ready to say it aloud to Amity yet._

_“Oh, let me have a look.” She moved to better assess the knight’s knee, and again Luz felt her heart swell with that familiar adoration that only Amity could cause._

_‘I am so in love with her…’_

She still had yet to voice these feelings aloud to Amity, the time hadn’t yet been right, hadn’t felt like it was the right time. 

She was hoping to change that over the course of this little romantic getaway they had managed to get. She had to tell her soon, it seemed like every other time she opened her mouth, all she wanted to do was say it.

Hell, she’d almost let it slip out just that morning when Amity had shown up in the stables, and for no reason whatsoever other than the overwhelming need she had felt to express that love aloud to her the moment she’d seen her that morning.

She’d had to slap herself the moment Amity had turned her back to her, trying to get herself under control.

She had to tell her soon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This and 17 were one chapter, but i figured it would be to long.


	17. Chapter 17

Luz followed Viney’s directions and once the sun had risen well over the horizon, they found it. A decent-sized little shack, in good repair and nestled between some large rocks at the edge of a clearing.

King didn’t wait and took off, sniffing everything in his path and near the shed as they approached.

“Hey, wake up.” Luz tapped Amity’s hands still wrapped loosely around her waist. The noble grumbled, turning her head to bury her face into the knight’s neck.

“No,” she hissed, hot breath tickling the human’s neck and Luz chuckled.

“We’re here, Amity.” She knocked her head into Amitys gently. She felt the witch sigh against her neck before finally, reluctantly, pulling her head out of Luz’s neck to look around, squinting into the harsh sunlight of morning.

“Yeah… it’s the woods,” she grumbled, voice thick with sleep. Luz chuckled to herself and reached back to pat the witch’s knee before hauling herself out of the saddle and offering a hand to Amity, who took it, but grumbled as she dismounted.

She followed Luz as she led the horse over to the little wooden shack and tied Singe’s reins to the post out front before she started pulling off their packs, handing Amity hers. King continued to snuffle around the perimeter of the shack and clearing, nose to the ground, fascinated by whatever he was smelling.

“We're only staying one night, what all did you pack?” Luz grunted under the weight of Amity’s bag.

“Just a few necessities, like food.”

“We’re here to hunt…” Luz made a face as she turned to look at her.

“Not every hunt is successful, Luz, and I’d rather not go two days without food if we don’t catch anything.”

“Huh… I guess I didn’t think about it…,” She hummed as she tossed her own little bag over her shoulder.

“You eat more than anyone I’ve ever met, how could you not think about it?” Amity shot her a disbelieving look. The knight just shrugged as they moved toward the shack, Amity following along behind

“Whenever I had to hunt it’s because there was no food.” She held up a hand. “If you wanted to eat, you had better catch something, otherwise you get eaten.”

“Why does that sound like Eda?” Amity mumbled under her breath and Luz laughed, looking at her over her shoulder as she opened the door to the shack.

“You’ve gotten really good at picking up on that…” She grinned and walked into the dark shack, setting down her bag and scrabbling around in the dark, quickly throwing open the tightly shuttered window and letting bright sunlight stream inside. The floor was covered in a few bales of hay and some saddles of varying sizes hung on the walls as well as other odds and ends that Luz recognized for animal training.

“I’ve just realized that anything with a touch of cynicism that comes out of your mouth, must be something she said based on what I know about her.”

“You know… that’s fair…” Luz nodded as she moved some stuff around and Amity sat down the satchel.

“I also know you…” the noble smiled at her, crossing her arms and leaning against the door frame.

“Oh you do, do you?” Luz turned to her with a grin and covered the short distance between them in two long strides to loom over the noble, who only continued to smirk up at her.

“What exactly do you know about me, Hermosa?” she asked, and Amity cocked a brow at her.

“You have an unadulterated sweet tooth, an almost self-destructive tendency to touch everything you’re unfamiliar with, on top of a habit of throwing yourself into situations without thought, like with dragons,” she said looking up at Luz, brow still cocked, as if daring her to refute any of these statements.

“I…! That’s…!” she pursed her lips as Amity smirked at her. “You could have at least named some good qualities I have too!” She huffed, crossing her arms and turning away. Amity laughed, unfolding her own arms to wrap around Luz’s waist.

“I’m sorry!” She chuckled, laying her cheek in the junction between Luz’s shoulder blades. “No one said your love of sweets was a bad thing, and I know you’re just curious, it’s what makes you so brilliant, Luz, you love to learn.” She squeezed and Luz’s stiff posture seemed to relax in her arms. “...and while I wish you would give a little more forethought before you jumped into things head first, I know it’s just because you care, you care more than anyone else I know.” She turned to bury her face against Luz’s back. “It’s just one of the things I love so much about you…,” she mumbled to herself, giving Luz another squeeze, face warm. She still wasn’t yet ready to voice that thought aloud to Luz.

It had been about a week ago when she had come to that grand realization, that she was in love with Luz. They had been sparring, of all things.

_Luz was doing it again, teasing her. Staying just out of the reach of her blade or ducking nearly effortlessly out of the way before finally going on the offensive and pushing her back. She’d only just managed to lock her blade with Luz’s, holding her in place._

_She needed a moment to think, mind running through Ideas at breakneck speed before Luz could pull away and resume her flurry of strikes._

_The Knight was grinning at her in that salacious way that never failed to make a shiver run up her spine, but this time, that shiver brought along an idea. Two could play this game, not that she’d ever tried._

_Underhanded? Most assuredly, but all was fair in love and war, and this was most certainly war._

_“Had enough yet, Hermosa?” Luz grinned at her, instead of flushing or stuttering out a response, as was the norm, Amity leaned in closer and gave the knight a salacious look all her own._

_“Enough of you? Never, darling.” It came out low and rumbling, and Luz’s eyes shot wide open as her face erupted dark red and her mouth hung ajar as Amity looked at her._

_She couldn’t help but grin and wink before dropping and kicking the knight’s feet out from under her. She dropped to her back with a hard thump but was quickly rolling over to grab her dropped blade._

_Amity put an end to that by pressing the tip of her beneath her chin, forcing her to look up at her._

_“I win,” she couldn’t help but grin as Luz’s face turned sour._

_“You cheated…,” she grumbled under her breath, face still hot. It took all Amity had not to giggle at her._

_“Whatever did I do?” she asked, doing her best to appear innocent, but Luz wasn’t buying it for a moment._

_“You know what you did…,” she hissed and Amity finally lost her composure and grinned down at the knight._

_“Tell me what I did, Luz?” she teased, her voice lilting upward on the other woman’s name. She knew damn well what she was doing, she was teasing her, getting under her skin. The same thing Luz liked to do. Though, she suspected Luz didn’t even know she was doing it most of the time._

_Even not trying, it was easy for her to get under the witch’s skin._

_Luz just huffed and turned her head away, not actually worried about the blade beneath her chin, nor should she be. Even if Amity had the ability, she could never have the will to do her knight harm._

_She finally pulled the blade away and laughed quietly as she crouched down in front of the knight._

_“I’m sorry, Luz. You’re right, that wasn’t fair, it was underhanded.” She noticed a smudge of dirt on the knight's cheek and reached out to wipe it away, smiling at her, but tilted her head as Luz looked at her strangely for a moment before she sat up on her knees._

_“It really was… but so is this!”_

_Amity barely had time to shriek before the knight slammed into her, knocking them both to the ground before Luz's lips covered hers in a long, hard kiss. Amity dropped her blade to wrap her arms tightly around the knight’s neck, pulling her closer._

_Finally, Luz leaned back, grinning down at her and all Amity could do was pant as she grinned back up at her._

_“You’re right,… that wasn’t fair either,” she managed to get out. The face looming over hers was filled with such affection that it made Amity’s heart flutter madly in her chest. Those warm, dark brown eyes always felt to Amity like they could see straight to the very core of her being. Never judging, just soft, warm, and understanding._

_“I love her so much…” The sudden thought stunned her for a long moment, but the more she thought about it and stared back at the knight still looming over her, looking at her with such a tender affection that it took her breath away that she realized, yes._

_She was in love with Luz Noceda._

_She wasn’t ready to say as much out loud though yet, and let the moment sink into her skin, into memory in her heart, of when she realized she was head over heels in love with Luz._

_She came out of the moment to realize Luz was looking at her rather strangely, in a way she had never seen before._

_“Luz? Are you okay?” she asked and that seemed to snap the human out of it, she jerked her head in a sharp nod._

_“YeAh…,” her voice cracked and she went quiet again. Long enough that Amity called her name again and that seemed to snap her out of it finally._

_“I’m fine,” she said and finally sat back, helping Amity back up as well. “Just… just think I landed a little hard on my knee is all,” she mumbled and Amity frowned at that._

_“Oh, let me have a look,” she said and quickly moved to examine Luz’s knee, glancing up at her from beneath her lashes. Her cheeks turned pink at the way she caught Luz looking down on her; so adoringly sappy._

_There was less sap in a maple tree, yet it made her insides all warm and fuzzy regardless of sappiness._

_Titan, she was just head over heels for Luz, wasn’t she?_

“What did you say?” Luz asked, glancing at Amity over her shoulder, not quite catching whatever she had mumbled into her back.

“Nothing, nothing…” She pulled back enough to look up at Luz, catching her gaze. “I appreciate how much you really care; about everything.”

Luz hummed and turned in her grip to wrap her arms around Amity’s shoulders, tugging her close.

“Well, I know you too,” she said confidently.

“Oh?” Amity cocked her head and Luz nodded.

“You’re impatient and hold nearly unattainable standards,” she said and Amity flinched.

“I probably deserved that,” she mumbled.

“I wasn’t done.” Luz smiled and leaned her forehead against the shorter witch’s. “You’re impatient, but I know it’s just how eager and passionate you are to do things, you always throw yourself as fully into things as I do, though maybe with a little more thought and caution...” She tugged Amity in closer if it were possible. The witch smiled up at her. “Your standards for everyone around you are high, but you hold yourself to those same crazy standards, always trying to be the best you can be, and I admire that in you, Amity,” she mumbled.

The witch felt her face warm, not the same flushed, hotness that such intimate proximity with Luz usually brought, but one of a warm simmer. A delightfully besotted and captivated heat that spread from her toes to the tips of her ears as the love she felt for the human made every part of her warm such contented happiness that she didn’t know how to give it form. She could feel her ears twitching rapidly, and Luz grinned.

Amity wanted to say the words, it should be so easy, to let them fall from her lips, but she couldn’t. Like they were stuck in her throat, choking her with the sheer size and weight of them, what they meant.

What if Luz didn’t feel the same?

It was hard to imagine, not with the way those nearly glowing, bronze eyes were looking at her right now, but there was always a possibility, and that sliver of doubt gnawed at the back of Amity’s mind; that maybe Luz didn’t care as deeply for her as she did in turn.

Her dilemma was cut short as Luz darted forward and briefly pecked her lips before detangling herself from Amity and stepping back.

“We better get going if we want to catch anything before it gets dark out,” she said, jolting Amity out of her love induced stupor.

“Ah, right.” She moved quickly to collect her bow and quiver from her bag and Luz walked back outside and brought her fingers to her mouth and a shrill whistle filled the air. A few seconds later King came bursting out of the woods, galloping straight toward them.

“King, I need you to stay here and watch over everything for us, okay?” She scratched the massive wolf’s head between the ears and he made a grunting noise in acknowledgment.

“You ready?” She turned around to look at Amity, who had left her cloak in the shack, leaving her in her training clothes. The witch nodded and Luz grinned.

“Let’s go then!” she hurried off into the woods, Amity trailing along behind her.

“What are we hunting for?” Amity asked her quietly as they picked their way through the woods carefully. The ground was strewn with fallen leaves that crunched loudly beneath their feet as they walked. Luz shrugged as Amity hurried to walk beside her.

“Whatever we can kill, Viney said there's a lot of deer around here, but also some other stuff we have to watch out for, like boars, puma’s… ghouls, cockatrice’s…”

“Do all of those things rank the same to you?” Amity asked, deadpan and Luz shot her an amused look.

“Of course not… there's geese out here too ya know,” she laughed as Amity shoved her.

“I know you killed a dragon, but that doesn’t mean smaller monsters aren’t a serious threat, Luz,” Amity scolded her.

“I know, but you make it so easy to tease you, Hermosa,” Luz chuckled and pranced out of Amity’s reach as she swatted at her once more, huffing. “Come on, there should be a pond around here somewhere. Animals always go to where the water is,” she said matter-of-factly.

The pond itself was rather large and sure enough, there were a number of animals that came and went, drinking from the green-tinted water, but nothing they were looking for.

For as patient as Luz could be when it came to training, both with a sword or magic, she had seldom little patience for anything else. Within an hour, her attention was shifting to anything else around them it could, even as Amity remained steadfast in her concentration.

Until Luz, fidgeting at her side finally drew her eyes. Within the first month of their acquaintance, even before they had started courting, Amity had been quick to pick up on the fact that Luz was incapable of keeping still for long periods of time, no matter the task. Even now, she was playing with a stick, drawing shapes in the dirt, making little scratching noises.

“Luz…,” Amity mumbled, drawing the knight’s attention.

“Hmm? Oh, sorry… I’ve never been very good at the waiting part of hunting, otherwise, I wouldn’t have begged in the villages so long…,” she mumbled offhandedly but Amity caught it, and her head whipped to her.

“When were you begging in villages?” she asked, and Luz looked at her, confused for a moment before she seemed to realize what she had said and her face dropped before she could turn to look back out at the water, Amity saw it.

Amity had a pretty good idea.

“Forget I asked,” she mumbled, glancing over at Luz, still quiet and staring straight out ahead at the water. Amity knew her well enough to see the rigid set of her body and the tightness in her jaw that normally did not exist.

She bit her lip and glanced down at Luz’s fists, clenched into the fabric of her pants above her thighs. For all the hours they had spent in the stables at night, just talking about anything and everything, there was one thing Luz never talked about.

Her mother’s death and the two years that followed it before she had met Eda. Anytime it appeared the conversation was heading that way Luz immediately changed subjects or skipped over it entirely.

It didn’t take but once for Amity to catch the hint and never brought it up nor alluded to the subject if she could help it.

She hesitated a moment before reaching out to lay a hand atop one of Luz’s and gave it, what she hoped, was a comforting squeeze.

Her heart sank as Luz pulled away and stood.

“I need to go check on something, I’ll be right back.” she didn’t wait for a response before quietly hurrying off into the woods. Amity watched her go with a frown.

“Damnit,” she mumbled to herself, the wood of her bow squeaked beneath her grip.

Luz quickly stalked through the trees, cursing to herself already for running off like that, but she had just… panicked.

She hardly even liked thinking about that time in her life, much less talking about it, but something about being with Amity just lowered all her walls, few as they were, and let herself be totally vulnerable. It was a little nerve-wracking, the one thing she had never told anyone, not even Eda, just threatened to slip out so naturally around Amity.

Once the pond and the witch were out of sight she plopped herself down on a fallen tree and ran a hand tiredly through her hair.

The moment she had started to walk away she felt bad, knowing that Amity hadn’t meant to prod at those sensitive memories, how could she when she didn’t know anything outside the very basics?

Thinking about those years of her life still made her grimace, and caused phantom pangs to jolt through her body. Cold, hunger, and shame. Surely, Amity would never judge her for some of the things she’d had to do to survive, but she wasn’t sure she wanted to take that chance, but at the same time, how could she say she loved Amity if she didn’t trust her?

She stayed there a few more minutes before deciding she needed to get back to Amity. She stood and was halfway through a stretch when a loud roar echoed through the woods, followed by a familiar scream.

Cold dread exploded inside Luz.

“Amity!” she turned and sprinted through the trees ignoring the branches and bushes that slapped her in the face or snagged at her clothes.

A flash of green against the browns and reds of the autumn tinted forest immediately drew her gaze as it darted past, followed by a large, black, bulky figure with a large maned head and long, curled tail with a wicked barb on the end.

_A Manticore._

“Shit!” Luz pushed her legs to go faster and drew her sword.

~

Amity sighed once Luz was out of sight.

She knew, knew that part of Luz’s life was a very touchy subject and there she had gone and opened her mouth at the wrong time.

She frowned.

_“...I wouldn’t have begged in the villages so long…”_

What exactly had happened to Luz in those two missing years between her mother’s death and meeting Eda? Life on the isles for a lone orphan was hard, she’d seen as much with her own eyes, even if she had never had to experience it. For a lone human, orphan? She couldn’t even imagine. Luz herself had said that further inland she had lived, the worse the discrimination against her had been.

She was curious but had resolved not to ask, it only upset the knight, and that was the last thing Amity wanted to do.

She sat watching the pond for a few more minutes, hoping the knight would come back soon. A crunching of leaves had her perk up and turn around.

“Lu-” Her words died in her throat as she looked up at the hulking, muscled, and black-furred creature standing only twenty feet away.

The head and body of a lion, save the curled black horns that jutted out of its head and the large pair of leathery wings that sprouted from its back. Amity swallowed thickly, gold eyes moving to the dark, armor-like plates that covered it’s lower back and formed into a tall, curved tail hanging over its head, tipped with a large barb.

She knew it instantly; A manticore.

It was looking at her, cloudy white eyes boring into her from beneath its thick, black mane.

Amity froze solid. Fear, cold and sharp, shot through her and her palms turned clammy around her bow. Luz was gone and she didn’t even have her training sword, not that it would probably do her much good.

Its nostrils flared, scenting the air as it made deep grunting noises before its lips curled back over long, jagged, yellowed teeth and let out an ear-piercing roar.

Amity screamed and jumped up, turning to run and dropped her bow in her wake as the great beast gave chase. It’s large, meaty paws thumping heavily on the ground behind her.

She didn’t even look to see where she was running, she just needed to run, and fast! She could hear it, slowly but surely gaining speed on her. Where was Luz?!

As if her prayers were answered, a sudden flurry of limbs burst from the trees and Luz was flying at the beast with a vicious war cry of her own, sword raised overhead as she landed on its back.

The beast reared up, letting out a pained roar as she dug her blade deep into its back.

“Luz!” Amity slid to a stop to turn toward the beast, now flailing around, wings flapping and kicking up dirt as it tried to turn and reach her with large, glinting claws.

“Run!” Luz yelled at her just before another mighty buck sent her flying off it’s back and rolling across the dirt, sword clattering out of her reach, near Amity’s feet.

Luz quickly popped back up to her feet and reached for one of the two training blades hanging off her waist. It could at least stab and block some of the creature’s attacks.

The Manticore roared and charged at her and she jumped to the side, narrowly avoiding the swipe of a large, claw-tipped paw. She swung her training sword, smacking the beast hard in the face. It reeled back but the scorpion tail looming above her did lash out, just barely missing her.

Luz stumbled back, tumbling onto her butt as it let out another ground-shaking roar and only just barely brought her sword up in time to catch the large claws that had aimed to rip out her throat. She grunted pushing back the muscular paw bearing down on her, only just keeping it from digging those claws into her flesh. She had other things to worry about too though. It’s poison barbed tail reared back to strike, this time it wouldn’t miss.

Luz grimaced, eyes squeezing shut, there was no way to avoid the second strike. She would happily settle for the fact that Amity was safe. Though, she wished now that she had told her she loved her when she’d had the chance.

Another loud roar filled her ears and the crushing pressure of the beast’s foot pulled away suddenly. Luz’s eyes shot open and turned to find Amity, with Luz’s sword in hand and the Manticore’s tail twitching on the ground in a growing puddle of blood.

Luz felt only cold fear shoot through her as the creature turned to Amity, angrier than ever. Amity didn’t seem to have thought the action through either as her eyes widened fearfully.

Luz scrambled to her feet and pulled free the dagger tucked into her belt and jolted forward, rounding the creature’s shoulder and swinging her arm forward, digging it into the beast’s eye. It roared and lashed out, catching her with the back of its paw.

She went rolling across the dirt and grunted as she dug her hands and feet into the ground, clawing herself to a stop.

She quickly ran a hand over her midsection and sighed in relief when she found no blood. She hopped to her feet as the creature writhed and snarled, trying to knock the dagger out its eye socket, blood splattering across the ground.

“Luz, are you alright!?” Amity was suddenly at her side and Luz nodded, grabbing her sword from Amity.

“You need to go!” she snapped, making the noble flinch as they stood.

“I can't just leave you-”

“You can and you will!” Luz grabbed her arm and spun her around and shoved her toward the trees. “I just need you to be safe, so please, Amity, don’t argue with me, just go!” Amity hesitated but the desperateness in her face made her turn and take off into the woods.

Luz gripped her sword in both hands and turned her attention to the furious Manticore that had finally shaken her dagger free from its right eye and was staring at her with burning rage in the remaining left one.

Even without the poisonous tail to worry about, it was still nothing to sneeze at. Razor-sharp teeth and claws still glinted at her as it reared back its powerful, muscular frame and let out another deafening roar.

She bent her knees and slapped a hand to the ice glyph engraved into the blade, it glowed blue and just as the beast came charging at her she swung the blade and sent shards of ice flying through the air. The monster cried out as ice embedded itself into its chest and shoulders. It whipped about, shaking it’s great, manned head, and Luz darted forward and swung, digging her sword’s razor-sharp, ice-covered edge across its face. It whipped away and a leathery wing smashed into her, knocking her off balance but she quickly managed to right herself and dove back in, just as it turned back to her.

She sunk her blade up to the hilt in its mane covered throat and gave a sharp twist.

The Beast seized, blood dripping from its jaws, and trembled before falling into a heap on the ground.

Luz stumbled back, panting as she stared down at the dead manticore laying in the dirt.

That was so much more excitement than she had planned for the day.

“Luz!” She jerked to the side as Amity came running toward her and knew, instead of fleeing as she had told her she had only gone as far as the trees so Luz couldn’t see her.

Suddenly hot anger mixed with the fear and adrenaline still churning within her and she scowled and stomped up to Amity, who stopped dead at the furious look on Luz’s face.

“I told you to go!” Luz snapped as she came to stop in front of her, looming over the shorter noble and looking angrier than Amity had ever seen. She swallowed thickly, she’d seen the knight annoyed, certainly, but never so furious and never at her.

Yes, she should have run back to the shack to hide, she wasn’t half as well trained or experienced as Luz, and all she was going to do was get herself killed; but she couldn’t leave Luz.

“I know, but I couldn’t leave you!”

“You can and you should have! You could have been killed!” Luz flung up her hands as she yelled.

“Like you couldn’t have!?” Amity yelled back, only making the knight scowl all the more. “You think I wanted to just stand by and watch you get mauled to death!?” she snapped, stepping forward to stand toe to toe with the angry knight, their noses almost brushing.

“My whole job is to protect you, Amity! If something had happened to you…!” she choked on the words and Amity blinked, watching with fascination as Luz’s eyes began to glaze over with unshed tears and her mouth screwed up. “If something had happened to you I…,” she choked, voice tight as she began to tremble. Amity stared up at her in awe as tears began to slide down her cheeks.

“Luz…”

The knight hiccuped and Amity wrapped her arms around her, prompting the knight to wrap her up in a crushing, return embrace and bury her face in her neck.

Amity clenched her fingers in the back of Luz’s tunic, pulling her close as she could as Luz wept into her neck, her own eyes growing wet too.

“I'm sorry,” she mumbled, turning to bury her face against Luz’s shoulder.

They stood there a while, wrapped up in one another until their tears slowed and Luz finally untangled herself from Amity’s grip. She loosened her hold but didn’t let go and Luz didn’t pull away completely.

Luz wiped at her face before setting her hands back down on the noble’s waist.

“I’m sorry… for yelling at you…,” she mumbled. Amity shook her head.

“You were right, the only thing I was going to do was get myself killed… but I was afraid… of what would happen to you if I left…” She looked down, unable to continue looking the knight in the eye.

“How do you think I felt when I saw you still standing there and it turned on you?” Luz asked sharply and Amity flinched but did not move to look at her. Luz took a deep breath, no more stalling; on anything.

“Monsters killed my mother…” she said, prompting Amity’s head to shoot up and look at her. “But not just monsters…” Luz mumbled, glancing elsewhere.

“You don’t need to…” Amity started but Luz’s eyes again, locked with hers.

“Yes… I need to tell someone finally, someone I trust… I want to tell you, Amity…,” she said quietly and Amity didn’t know what she was supposed to say to that, so she nodded.

“Okay…”

“When I was almost eleven, my mother and I lived alone in the woods, about a mile from the nearest town… we didn’t go there much, only when we had to… it didn’t take me long to notice how the witches treated us, like vermin…” She pursed her lips and Amity wanted to say something but kept her mouth shut, waiting for her to go on.

“My Mami always said was because we were human, but never seeing any other humans, I really didn’t understand why that would mean anything... and I mostly ignored it… till one day… she got into a big argument with a merchant, I can’t even remember now about what, but it drew a lot of attention and I just remember her quickly dragging me back home, she seemed worried, and she made me stay inside the rest of the day… That night, she woke me up, shaking me, telling me that we had to go...” she hesitated and Amity laid a gentle hand on her arm, squeezing reassuringly. Luz’s arms wrapped around her waist squeezed back.

“She pulled me out of bed and out the little door in the back wall where we stored wood just outside of it in the winter… and then she was pulling me by the arm through the woods and the next thing I saw, our house was on fire, and people were shouting… it was a mob from town. They were angry with my mom and came to burn our house down…at least I thought so… now I’m sure that was just an excuse because we were human,” she mumbled and Amity’s grip on her tightened. “We were running through the woods and the next thing I heard was a roar… something big and dangerous and I was scared… She said it would be okay, and told me to crawl inside an old hollow log that was lying nearby… she made me promise not to come out until she came back or the sun came up,” Luz mumbled and pain twisted her face. “She took off running and the sound followed her… she never came back,” Luz mumbled.

“Luz… I… I’m sorry, darling.” she reached up and ran her hand across Luz’s cheek. The knight let out a long, suffering sigh.

“I’ve managed… the two years after that were the worst… but I don’t want to talk about that right now… Amity…” The knight reached up and cupped both her cheeks between her hands. Golden eyes were still red and teary as she looked up at her. Luz brushed away the remaining tear tracks away with her thumbs. “You jumping into that fight, scared me half to death… If something happened to you, I don’t know what I’d do if I lost you like that too… because I love you.”

Amity sucked in a sharp breath as she stared up at Luz with wide eyes as the knight looked back down at her, face filled with that tender affection Amity had been feeling and was sure was reflected in her face right at that moment. She must have been silent long enough that Luz doubted because she frowned and her eyes flickered elsewhere.

“I understand if it’s still too soon for you too-,” she started and Amity jerked, reaching up to cover Luz’s hands with her own.

“No!” She stopped her, squeezing the hands beneath hers. “No, Luz. I… The truth is, I love you too… I am… so in love with you…,” she mumbled, turning her face into one of the large, warm hands pressed to her cheeks.

Luz let out a shuddering breath and let her hands slide down the noble’s neck, making Amity look up at her just as she leaned down to capture her mouth in a long, searing kiss that shot fire down Amity’s spine and sapped all her breath, but she had enough sense to wrap her arms around the knight’s neck, if for no other reason then to keep herself standing.

She felt like jelly when Luz finally released her again.

“Oh…,” she breathed, and Luz couldn’t help but chuckle at the starry-eyed look Amity was giving her.

She grinned and pressed her forehead to Amity’s.

“I need to get my sword back, and we still need to catch something to eat…,” she trailed off.

“Can we just… eat the food I brought and spend the rest of the day together...?” she asked, running her fingers through the thick hair on the back of Luz’s neck.

“Yeah… let’s just do that.” She agreed with a sharp nod.

~ ~ ~

Luz sighed from her place sitting in the hay inside the shack, a fire crackled from a pit she’d dug in the dirt floor, lighting up the night’s gloom.

“Tired?” Amity asked settling in next to her and Luz shrugged.

“A little.”

“Not the way you probably planned to spend your next birthday when you arrived in Bonesborough, hmm?” Amity chuckled and Luz blinked, turning to look at her.

“Birthday?” Luz repeated and Amity looked back at her like she’d grown a second head.

“You told me what today was last month and now you’ve gone and forgotten your own birthday?” Amity laughed as Luz made an ‘O’ face.

“It is my birthday!” she shouted, sitting up, making Amity only laugh that much harder. King watched from his place nearby, if he could, he’d roll his eyes at them.

“I can’t believe you forgot.” She shook her head.

“Things have been kind of busy, okay!” she huffed, crossing her arms and pouting.

“Well, I didn’t, and I have something for you,” she hummed, digging through her bag. Luz peeked around her shoulder curiously before she seemed to find what she was after and turned, presenting it to Luz. A small wooden box tied shut with twine.

Luz took it and glanced at Amity, who only looked at her encouragingly before she pulled the string loose and popped it open.

“Oh!”

Nestled inside was a round medallion that fit in the palm of her hand. A large red gemstone was set in the gold circle, with runes carved deeply into the metal all around it and it hung from a dark, brown, braided leather cord.

“It’s pretty…,” Luz mumbled and Amity giggled.

“It’s enchanted, Luz. It will protect you from fire magic,” she said and Luz’s eyes widened even further as she looked at the gift in a whole new light.

“This could really come in handy…,” she mumbled and Amity grinned.

“Well, we want to protect those eyebrows now that they’ve just finished growing back…” Luz shot her a look as she only grinned back.

“You’re so funny…,” she huffed and Amity laughed, but it quickly morphed into a warm, affectionate smile.

“Happy birthday, Luz.”

Luz sat the box aside and grabbed hold of the noble, who squeaked as Luz dragged her into her lap.

“It’s wonderful, Hermosa. I love it… I love you,” she mumbled, pressing a kiss to the witch’s mouth. Amity hummed in response, wrapping her fingers in the neckties of Luz’s tunic while she held her in her lap.

“I love you too…” she smiled.

They both turned to look as King huffed and got up, trotting out the cracked open door and disappearing out into the dark.

“Where are you going?!” Luz called after him but received no reply.

“Let him go, he’ll be fine,” Amity said, turning her attention back to the knight before leaning in to kiss her again, which Luz was all too eager to reciprocate.

Eventually, Amity’s arms wound around the knight’s neck, and Luz’s were anchored around her waist as they exchanged longer and deeper kisses.

“Luz…,” Amity panted when the knight released her for the umpteenth time that night.

“Huh?” Luz grunted, breathing just as quick and shallow as hers. Amity swallowed thickly. The knight’s face was flushed and her lips swollen but she was looking back at Amity with a look that Amity could not give a name to or at least one she didn’t want to name aloud. It was warm and gentle and set something on fire inside the witch.

“I… Do you…?” she just couldn’t quite get the words out, but by the crimson flush that was breaking out across her face, Luz had a pretty good idea of what she wanted and felt her own skin flare in response.

“Yeah,” she simply mumbled and Amity’s grip on her neck tightened.

“Yeah?” she asked, voice barely above a whisper, and Luz nodded.

With a sudden burst of courage, she planted another smoldering kiss on the knight’s mouth before shoving her onto her back in the hay.

“Whoa!” Luz yelped and Amity giggled.

~ ~ ~

Amity had barely been back in her bedroom for fifteen minutes when the door slammed open and her siblings appeared.

“You sneaky little liar!” Emira shouted as she and Edric stepped inside, closing the door behind them.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about….” she smirked to herself as she unpacked the bag she had taken with her.

“You two said you were going to the market, then Bump tells us he okayed your hunting trip…” Her brother crossed his arms, looking sour.

“There was a last-minute change of plans.” She smiled at the two of them as Edric continued to look upset but Emira’s face took on a suspicious look.

“You seem much too happy for someone who just got back from a hunting trip…” Emira cocked a brow and crossed her arms. Against her will, Amity’s face pinked.

“It was just a good trip… It was nice to spend time… alone with Luz…,” she mumbled, unable to look her sister or brother in the eye.

Emira cocked her head, examining her sister’s flushed, but still smiling face, and came to a sudden realization.

“Oooooh,” she breathed.

“Huh, what?” Edric looked at his twin curiously and Emira sighed, rolling her eyes.

“Are you daft? They disappeared into the woods, alone together for two days and had a ‘good time alone together’?” Emira air quoted as she turned to her brother, who blinked before looking at Amity, whose face had turned bright crimson from her neck to the tips of her ears.

“OH!” he yelped, coming to the same conclusion as Emira “...Oh, I’m glad we didn’t go…” He made a face and Emira laughed at his scandalized look.

“Will you two get out!?” Amity snarled, face a bloody red.

“Okay, okay, we’re going!” Her sister sang and Edric hurried out, not eager at all to talk about this. “Just one thing… between you and me?” she asked and Amity sighed, looking at her expectantly. “Did you have a good time?” she asked.

Amity chewed her bottom lip between her teeth, unable to look her sister in the eye but eventually nodded.

“She told me she loved me…,” she mumbled and Emira’s eyes widened at that. “And I love her.” Amity smiled to herself, twisting her fingers together.

“I’m happy for you two, Amity,” she said and the younger woman nodded, smiling. “I’m also so jealous…,” Emira mumbled with a rueful smile to herself before slipping out of the room, leaving her sister alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wonderful art, as always done by my friend, Tripower.  
> It's 1 am and i have work in 5 hours....this prob needs more editing... Later.


	18. Chapter 18

Luz hummed happily to herself as she trotted down the road with King running along at her side, heading straight for the docks and Hexside, where she was supposed to meet Eda for the first time in weeks. She wanted to tell her about the manticore she had killed three weeks ago on her birthday, she’d also like to tell her about her most recent relationship development with Amity. 

Well, the ‘love’ part... Not the other part! Though, whether or not she would actually be interested in hearing it would depend entirely on her mood when Luz arrived. Eda gagged at the very notion of romance, much less actually having to hear or see it. King waited outside with a huff as she disappeared inside the dingy old watering hole. 

The place was just as it always was, not that Luz made a habit of coming here often outside her meetings with Eda. The place always reeked and drunkards hung out front at every time of day, begging for coin so they could fill their bellies with more cheap ale, not that the inside was much better, though less begging for coin and more drinking.

It was packed full of people and, given its proximity to the docks, where the Emperor’s soldiers came and went daily in the ongoing war with their neighbors across the sea, there were a number of white and gold cloaks among the den of other witches. She moved through the crowds, keeping a hand on the pouch of coins tied to her belt; she’d learned that lesson the hard way before. Luckily she left most of her coin in Willow’s safekeeping. 

She quickly spotted her old mentor’s thick head of gray hair from across the room and made her way quickly over to where she was sitting in the corner.

“Eda!” The younger knight grinned as she walked up. The owl knight turned and grinned when she saw her.

“Well, there she is now!” Eda said and it was then that Luz noticed that her old teacher was not alone at the table. There was another woman sitting across from her that she had never seen before. 

A witch, lean, with sharp, narrow features and long, straight black hair and bright, blue-green eyes. A white and gold cloak hung from her shoulders, the standard affair for the Emperor's soldiers, though hers had fine details sewn around the edges that denoted a higher rank than most.

“Kid, come sit down and meet my pain in the ass older sister…”

“Lilith!” Luz chirped with a grin, startling the sisters. 

“You’ve spoken of me, I see,” Lilith drawled, glancing at her sister, who cocked a brow at her former apprentice.

“Not that much…” Eda frowned. “This is my former apprentice and freeloader, Luz.” Eda jerked a thumb at the human knight. “You obviously already know Lily,” the gray-haired knight snorted.

“Ah… sorry, no. Amity has talked about you quite a bit though,” The younger warrior chuckled sheepishly, scratching the back of her head. That made the elder witch perk up.

“Amity!?” 

“Ah, right, Kid here has been working for the Blights for the past five months as a guard,” Eda said, leaning on the back two legs of her chair, feet propped up on the table. Luz pulled up a chair and plopped herself down at the table with the sisters. 

“I hope she’s doing well, she was always a favorite student of mine.” The black-haired knight smiled at her, folding her hands in her lap as she regarded Luz carefully, eyes lingering on her rounded ears for a moment before looking into her eyes. 

“She’s great!” Luz grinned and Eda smirked as one of Lilith’s carefully sculpted bows hiked upward. 

“I don’t recall Amity ever associating too closely with the... guard staff, before…,” she started only for Eda to snort, grinning wickedly. 

“Oh, they do more than ‘associate’ with each other,” Eda laughed and Luz flushed. “Luz here has won over your little former pupil's heart.” She grinned reaching out to poke her own former apprentice in the cheek. Luz scowled and slapped at the hand. “They’re courting,” she teased, 

“Is that so?” Lilith was now looking at her with a much harder look, one Luz immediately realized was appraising. “I have known Alador and Odalia Blight for some time and I'm surprised they would allow Amity to be courted by someone… from outside their circle," she said tactfully. 

"Because I'm human?" Luz asked with a frown.

"Cause you're a peasant, commoner, Luz," Eda piped up. "Though, the human thing probably doesn't help much either." Eda shrugged.

"Reputation and image have always been the most important things to the Blights. Everything else has always followed, even their children." Lilith made a face that spoke quite clearly of how she felt about that.

"Is that why they wouldn't let you teach her swordplay?" Luz asked curiously, prompting the elder Clawthorne to look at her, surprised.

"It seems she still hasn't gotten over that if she still speaks of it," Lilith smirked and Luz shook her head.

"No, but I've been teaching her." 

Lilith sat up even straighter at that and Eda smirked. 

“You’ve been teaching her?” she frowned and Luz nodded. “Lord and Lady Blight allowed that?” 

"Oh… Well, I haven't met them, they've been away on some kind of business trip ever since I started there. Amity and I train in secret… she teaches me runes in secret too… and we court in secret... We do a lot of things in secret now that I think about it…" She scratched her chin thoughtfully. 

Lilith's long, black nails drummed across the scratched and scuffed tabletop.

"Well… knowing Amity’s long-held desire to learn, I suppose it's better than nothing…" the other witch hummed. Eda frowned and Luz blinked.

"What is that supposed to mean?" The owl knight scowled, finally pulling her feet off the table to sit up and glare at her sister

"Come now, Edalyn. Your own training methods are more than a little… unusual, and even skilled as you are, you yourself said it's only been five months since your apprentice started off on her own, that's hardly enough time to become experienced enough to teach others." Lilith waved a hand in clear dismissal.

“Luz is a prodigy!”

“I am?” Luz blinked, turning to look at her old teacher.

“Well, maybe ‘prodigy’ is a song word, but come on Kid, You learned how to do magic without even having a bile sac, you killed a damn dragon!” Eda threw up a hand. That did catch Lilith’s interest. 

“A dragon?” the raven-haired knight repeated and Luz nodded somewhat reluctantly. It hadn’t exactly been a masterful or graceful kill but the end result had been the same when all was said and done. She had killed a dragon and harvested its scale and teeth. 

Viney had made some very nice daggers from the beast’s pearly whites too. 

“Yup!” Eda proudly threw an arm around Luz’s shoulders. “She killed a red dragon just to give scales to little miss noble for a courting gift,” Eda smirked and Luz flushed, avoiding her mentor and Lilith’s eyes. 

“You slew a red dragon for the sole purpose of gifting Amity scales?” Lilith was giving her a different look now, still appraising her, but with a hint more interest, and curiosity than before.

“I mean, it wasn’t fully grown… but yeah, I did kill a dragon.” She nodded and Eda puffed up proudly even as Luz shot her a look from the corner of her eye. She’d told her she’d killed a dragon and she’d gotten a scolding, now she was bragging about it!

"I think I'd like to see your skills in action for myself," the older witch finally said after a long moment looking between the two. 

“What did ya have in mind, Lil? Another dragon slaying?” she offered with a grin and Luz paled. She did not want to do that if she didn’t have to. Not after she promised Amity that she would not go out on any more solo dragon hunts. 

To her relief, Lilith only scoffed.

“None of us have the time to hunt down another adolescent dragon and let’s be realistic, not one of us could kill a full-grown dragon by ourselves. No, I was thinking of a simple exhibition match.” 

“Me against you?” Luz cocked her head and the dark-haired knight nodded. She glanced at Eda, who had a worrying look on her face.

“I accept,” Luz nodded, which prompted Eda to look at her shocked before it turned into a rueful grin and she shook her head. 

“Excellent, I have some things that require my attention since I only arrived back this morning, but tomorrow, noon?” Lilith offered and Luz nodded as an idea struck her.

“I know the perfect place,” Luz said, and Lilith looked at her expectantly.

~ ~ ~

Luz flipped through her book happily. The sun had already long ago dipped below the horizon, taking the last rays of light with it, but a fire crackled nearby. Amity would arrive soon, as she was want to do as of late, even though they had finished up with rune lessons two weeks ago.

She still came almost nightly, though for no other reason than to cuddle into the knight’s side while they talked and Luz read out interesting bits from the research journal Amity had gotten for her. It had a lot of interesting things in it, detailing several large villages of humans all along the coast. 

She only had a few more pages to read and she reached out and scratched King’s head from his place on her left, his new spot since Amity had come to claim the spot sucked up to her right side for herself. He grunted, tail swaying lazily across the floor. 

She smirked to herself as she glanced at him before she turned back to the book in hand and flipped a page.

“The last two years have been an interesting experience, to say the least in observing the coastal villages inhabited by humans. Their fascination with my simple healing elixirs and enchantments have made me a rather welcome guest in anyone of their settlements, and all the easier to observe their day to day with relatively little interference.

Multiple settlements squabble with each other frequently and at any given time over the smallest provocation. From watching their battles, I can conclude with certainty that they will stand no chance against the magical enchantments of my lord’s forces.” 

Luz frowned at that, for the entirety of the book, Octavian Mortifer had mentioned many times about how accommodating and welcoming the humans in the villages he visited had been to him, but he had also talked about certain strips of land and what resources they seemed to be plentiful in and what sorts of structures would go well in their places. Now there was sudden talk about them being unable to fend of magic.

Luz felt dread begin to pool in her belly as she continued to read, flipping to the journal’s last page.

“According to my calculations and the recent tides, the forces from home should be here within the next fortnight. The plans I have received coincide with what I have recommended to My Lord of starting with the coastal villages first and moving inward. I have not traveled more than thirty miles inland, but I highly suspect that the human tribes beyond are just as scattered and fragmented as those here in the coastal region, perhaps even more so with the abundance of resources that means they rarely would need to trade with each other. I have curried enough goodwill that they will not think twice when My Lord’s forces land and by the time they do, the occupation will be well underway. 

The capital city of the empire My Lord aims to make a reality will be perfectly suited here on the coast, for easy sea access for both trade and military expansion when someday, we are able to return to Domum from this exile and take it back by force. 

It is my sincerest wish that the human race will fall in line in accordance to My Lord’s wishes so they need not be made examples of.” 

Luz frowned, staring hard down at the nearly hundred-year-old words written in smooth flowing script. 

This didn’t make sense with what she knew and what Amity had told her about how humans had come to be extinct on the Isles. She reread the same passages over and over, fingers tightening on the leather covers until they squeaked beneath her grip as she read over that last line again, and again.

It was all lies.

The humans hadn’t tried to push out witches. 

They had been here first and the witches had come from somewhere across the sea and taken it from them.

She grit her teeth, jaw tight. They had taken it all and then made humanity the villains as they wiped them from existence. 

“RAGH!” She threw the book across the stables, where it smacked hard into the wall and dropped to the ground in a flurry of papers just as Amity stepped around the corner, jumping at the loud smack right by her head.

“Luz!?” Amity jerked back.

“Sorry, I’m sorry!” Luz scrambled to her feet. “I didn’t see you there…” She frowned as Amity carefully picked up the book and frowned as she realized what book she was looking at.

“Something wrong?” Amity asked looking up at Luz as she walked in to stand in front of the knight.

Luz pursed her lips, glaring down at the book for a long moment.

“Luz?” Amity reached out, fingers on her arm, prompting her to look up at worried, amber eyes and she took the book from Amity’s loose grip and flipped it to the end before turning it around to show her.

Amity gave her a curious look before turning her attention to the last entry and scanned it. Her eyebrows scrunched between her eyes as she went, face screwing up more and more as she read. When she reached the end her face whipped up to look at Luz, frowning back at her.

“This…” Amity wasn’t sure what to say in response to the words laid out plainly in front of her.

“It was all a lie,” Luz finally mumbled, face screwed up. “This… all of this was human land and the witches came here and killed them and stole it!” She threw up her arms, snarling. Amity flinched at the sharp bite in her words. 

“Well, there was a large group of witches that came over here from elsewhere, but they always said there had always been witches here, that it was the arrival of the new group that had started the humans' hostilities...” Amity trailed off as Luz’s angry stare was leveled on her. 

“Not once in that book does he mention other witches already living on the Isles; just humans!” Luz snapped as she started pacing around the stables angrily. King hunkered down in the hay, ears pinned back flat against his head. Amity paused, looking down at the book. 

‘Domum’ 

That was an ancient runic way of saying ‘home’. Octavius had been referring to the place across the sea as ‘home’ and had specifically said they were in exile. She frowned to herself. They had been exiled and looking for someplace else to live.

“That’s what the war is about…,” Amity mumbled, as all the pieces finally slotted together in her mind. Luz stopped her angry pacing to look at her. “Someone… likely a predecessor of the Emperor, was exiled and they came here, looking for somewhere else to live… and humans already inhabited the land…” She looked up at Luz, whose frown was deepening by the second.

“So they just murdered them all and came up with some bullshit story about us being the aggressors so they could take everything!” Luz scowled and resumed her angry pacing. Amity bit her lip, looking down at the book.

This was why the book had been locked away in the restricted section of the archives, to dust the truth under the rug. For Amity, it also explained why Luz didn’t have much trouble in town.

The history of the war as she knew it, which was more than thrown into question at this point, was that the coast had easily been taken over and wiped clear of humans in months, and towns quickly built up all along it. The campaign to take the rest of the main island and the surrounding smaller ones had been much slower and met with greater resistance; it had taken nearly forty years for them to wipe out the last holdouts of humanity from one side of the Isles to the other. The fighting on the coast had ended before it barely even began, the native inhabitants were taken by surprise and nearly one hundred years ago, while the fighting further inland had only ended in fairly recent times, thus why Luz had always had such trouble with older witches further inland before coming to Bonesburough.

She looked up to find her lover still angrily pacing back and forth and muttering to herself under her breath. She couldn't even begin to imagine how Luz was feeling right now, and she had no idea what to say to help, knowing her ancestors had slaughtered Luz's to steal their land and then make them the villains in history.

“Luz… I…” She bit her lip. ‘I'm sorry’ seemed so trivial and lacking for this, but she didn’t know what else to say. What could you say to someone whose entire race had been wiped clean from the world in an act of greed and aggression, leaving them the last of their kind?

“I’m sorry…” She looked down at the ground and heard the scuffing of Luz’s boots in the dirt and hay come to a stop, then start again, coming closer. Then, the knight’s arms wrapped around her, squeezing her close. 

“It’s not your fault, Amity” she mumbled, nuzzling her face into the noble’s neck and squeezing her tightly. Amity opened her mouth to speak, till she felt the slight vibrations in the knight’s body and she quickly wrapped her arms around her back, one hand carding through Luz’s thick, brown locks comfortingly. 

“I’m still sorry, Luz,” she murmured into her ear softly. Luz made a noise in her throat as they stood there. ‘Come on,” Amity tugged on her and sat them down in the hay. King moved out of the way but didn’t go far, watching them as Luz wrapped herself around Amity and squeezed her tight. 

They laid there for hours, Amity running her fingers through the knight’s hair and murmuring soft words into her ear. After a time, she heard Luz sigh tiredly. 

“I haven’t seen another human since before or after my mom died… am I really the only one left?” she heard the knight mumble against her collar and Amity frowned.

“I don’t know, Luz…,” she whispered, squeezing Luz all the tighter against her. Wishing she could hold Luz and make all her pains go away. 

~ ~ 

“Are you going to tell me where we’re going?” Amity asked as they moved through the woods toward their usual training grounds. The leaves had all but finished falling off the trees, leaving them bare and allowing the biting mid-fall wind to cut through and whip at their faces. Luz tugged them along by their joined hands and the noble revealed in the warmth that came off the knight’s larger hand wrapped around hers. 

“You know where we’re going,” Luz smirked, glancing at her over her shoulder.

“Alright, yes, but I know you, and you’re acting suspicious, Luz.” Amity frowned, especially as the knight only continued to smile that infuriatingly knowing smile. 

“Can’t you just let me surprise you?” Luz asked with a grin, adjusting her hand to lace her fingers with Amity’s.

“Your surprises are questionable at the best of times…” Amity smirked as Luz stuck her tongue out at her.

“Just trust me!” she huffed, making Amity chuckle.

“I trust you, love.” Amity squeezed her hand and Luz smiled but Amity could see the dark circles under her eyes and tell easily how tired she was. “Luz, did you get any sleep after I left last night?”

The knight was silent long enough that Amity didn’t need her to say anything to know the answer. 

“Luz…” 

“I couldn’t sleep,” Luz finally said, not looking at her and Amity frowned.

“You look exhausted…,” she said softly, nudging the knight’s arm with her shoulder. 

“I feel exhausted,” Luz frowned even as she tugged the noble closer to her side. “I was laying around thinking last night and... I don’t know… I guess if I’m the last human… there's nothing I can do about it… and everyone who had anything to do with it is long dead… so…” she reached up with her free hand to scratch the back of her head and sighed. “I guess there’s nothing I can do except live with it, but I just want…” She made a face and Amity couldn’t even pretend to understand what she must be feeling, but she did have an idea of what the knight was trying to say. 

“You want some kind of closure?” she guessed and Luz’s head whipped to her, eyes wide.

“Yes, that, I want some kind of closure, but how can I when literally, everyone involved is dead!?” she shouted out to the forest and no one in particular. Amity frowned at her and Luz must have caught the look in her eye because she quickly turned away and sighed. “Sorry, it’s not your fault…” 

“But you can talk to me about it, Luz… I may not ever be able to understand, but I'm here if you need me,” Amity assured, squeezing her hand and Luz smiled at her, though it had an undeniable hint of melancholy to it. 

“I know…,” she hummed, knocking her shoulder with hers.

“There you are!” a voice called out as they rounded the bend.

“Hey!” Luz grinned and held a hand up in greeting.

Amity looked up and saw a grinning, gray-haired witch leaning against a tree, looking at them, but it was the other, dark-haired witch, standing nearby, arms folded behind her back that caught her attention.

“Lilith!?” Amity finally broke away from the human knight and dashed across the clearing to throw herself at the raven knight, who wheezed as the noble slammed into her with crushing force.

"I missed you as well," Lilith chuckled as she squeezed the younger woman. 

"What are you doing here?" Amity looked up at her as she finally pulled out of her grip. 

"The war has ended, some people are staying behind or being sent over to further the Emperor's agenda, but my tour is over," she explained.

"That's wonderful," Amity grinned brightly at her.

"What took you so long?" Eda turned to look at her former apprentice curiously, though a hint of annoyance also lingered. For someone who was constantly late, the owl knight never did like to be kept waiting herself.

"Sorry, sorry,” Luz grinned at Eda. "We were talking…" she shrugged and Eda frowned as she better looked at the human knight.

"You look like death warmed over…" the older knight frowned and Luz grimaced.

"I didn't sleep at all last night…," she grumbled.

"Welp, I hope you have enough energy for your duel." Eda cocked a brow at the dark circles beneath Luz's eyes.

"Duel?" Amity finally turned from her conversation with Lilith to look at Luz.

"I'm supposed to be having a little spar with Lilith today…," 

"Why?" Amity frowned at the tired knight.

"I wish to test her skills for myself," Lilith answered before Luz could even think to answer her.

"She doesn't think Luz Is good enough to be teaching you swordplay," Eda cut in and Lilith scowled at her but did not correct her.

What?" Amity turned to look at her old teacher, who huffed.

"I simply wish to see if her skills hold up to the standard you deserve to be taught at." She straightened, hands once more folding behind her back. Eda scowled at her sister.

"Luz is a wonderful teacher," Amity insisted.

"Is she, or are you simply infatuated with her?” Lilith tilted her head, a finely sculpted black brow cantered upward and Amity turned a bright shade of scarlet under her former teacher’s knowing look.

“Luz and I are involved, but that has no bearing on her ability to teach me swordplay,” the noble insisted. “I’ll show you myself,” she asserted, back straight and chin up.

“My duel was to be with Luz…” 

“Luz is in no condition to fight right now, she didn't sleep and is utterly exhausted, but I can show you the proficiency of her teachings, let me spar with you.” 

“You could never beat her, Amity.” Luz took a step forward to stand behind the witch, hand on her shoulder. Even if she had never seen Lilith fight, she knew what to look for from her time with Eda, and she could tell just by the way the older knight carried herself that she was a force to be reckoned with. 

“This is a spar, is it not?” Amity glanced at her over her shoulder. “I don't intend to fight her to the death, so I don’t need to win, I only want to prove that you are a good teacher and our romantic entanglement has no bearing on that opinion,” she huffed and Luz cocked a brow at her; she recognized that tone. The haughty, offended tone that said she was annoyed but trying not to let it show in front of other people. She was annoyed at Lilith for thinking that Amity would say she was a good teacher just because of their relationship.

“Alright… If Lilith agrees to it then I have no problem letting you show your stuff in my place.” She grinned and winked at Amity, who pinked, knowing that the Clawthorne sisters’ were watching them. 

Amity turned back to her old teacher who regarded her for a long moment, aquamarine eyes appraising her seriously before nodding.

“Very well, Amity. Show me what you have learned.” Lilith nodded and Luz took the two training swords from her belt and handed one to each of the other two women, who moved toward the center of the clearing.

“Do you intend to fight in that gown?” Lilith cocked her head.

Amity quickly chucked off the ugly, poofy dress her mother had bought for her that hid her training attire beneath in response. 

Lilith couldn’t help but smirk at that.

“That is certainly one use for one of your mother’s hideous dresses,” the knight snorted and drew the training blade. Amity followed suit and the two began to circle. Amity had been working on her patience, but she would never be able to out-wait Lilith and darted forward, swinging her sword. 

The sideswipe was easily blocked and then the knight was coming back with a flurry of her own swift attacks. They were much slower than she was capable, not yet sure what she thought of the human knight and what she may have taught Amity, but to her surprise, the noble blocked each of her strikes with well-practiced ease. Lilith hummed to herself as they began to circle again, waiting to see who would lead the next affront. 

Luz bit her lip as she watched. She knew just how far Amity had come since they started, though she was still nowhere even close to being even on her level, much less someone as well seasoned as Lilith appeared to be and if what Eda had told her was true.

“Relax, Lily would never hurt her!” Eda clapped a hand on her former student’s shoulder. 

“I’m not worried about her hurting her…” she paused as they two clashed again in a brief flash and clang of blades that echoed across the barren forest. “...Well, maybe a little…,” she mumbled under her breath as Lilith seemed to be picking up speed in her attacks, pushing Amity back as she struggled to keep up with the increasing speed of the more experienced warrior.

A brutal clang of blades brought them to a pause as they locked together.

“I must admit, I am impressed with the progress you seem to have made, Amity” Lilith grunted as they pressed against each other. “Perhaps your paramour is more skilled than I believed her to be, I look forward to having a match with her another day.” 

“Right now, your match is with me…,” Amity huffed, struggling to push back the older witch.

“You are right, but as Luz said, you can’t beat me, Amity, no matter how much progress you have made over the last few months.” She pressed harder on the locked blades and Amity grimaced as she pressed harder down on their locked blades. She glanced down at Lilith’s feet and in a split second, made her decision. 

Taking a play from Luz’s book once more, she jerked back throwing Lilith off balance and dropped, kicking the older witch’s feet out from under her with the sweep of her leg, sending her tumbling back onto her butt. Before she could even think to right herself, Amity pressed the tip of her training blade to the other witch's neck. 

Lilith blinked at it, surprised as Amity stood over her, panting.

The raven-haired witch made a sour face,

“I concede,” she grumbled and Amity lowered the blade, still looking shocked that it had worked.

“You won!” 

She suddenly found herself swept up in Luz’s strong arms and swung around. She laughed, dropping the training sword to wrap her arms around the human knight’s neck. 

Before she could say anything Luz was kissing her, hard.

“Well, well, well, sister, what do you think of my former student and her teaching skills now?” Eda strutted over, grinning wickedly as Lilith picked herself up out of the dirt and brushed off her clothes while her sister preened obnoxiously. 

“She is certainly a student of yours, I recognize that drop kick anywhere…,” she grunted as Eda cackled.

“Luz, put me down!” Amity laughed as the knight spun her around the clearing for another moment before finally letting her back down on her feet. 

“I’m just so proud of you!” Luz bounced around on her toes and Amity laughed at her obvious joy. 

“Well, I had a good teacher.” She smiled and Luz grinned brightly at her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Geez, this chapter was a slog for some reason.


	19. Chapter 19

It was warm. Which was unusual on a cold mid-winter morning. Normally she was warm enough, but today she was beyond toasty, everything blanketed her in boundless warmth and she snuggled deeper into it, enjoying the heat that cradled her in its arms as she dozed peacefully in and out of a semi-conscious state, content to let her eyes remain closed.

Eventually, she could feel the sunlight fall across her face and she squeezed her eyes tighter shut against the blinding light trying to pierce the shield of her eyelids. Unfortunately, the bright sunlight would not be stopped and she grumbled under her breath, flipping over and burying her face in the warmth at her back. She hummed contentedly to herself and felt arms squeeze her softly as a low, gratified grumble sounded in her ear that made her frown. Drowsily, eyes still closed, she reached out and found a wall of soft, yet solid skin and muscle, warm beneath her fingertips. 

Slowly, she blinked her eyes open, squinting against the light, even though it was no longer shining directly into her eyes. She was met with a wall of warm, dark skin, spotted with scars. She quickly blinked away the sleep as she looked up to find Luz, mouth open and drooling onto her pillow, eyes closed in peaceful sleep with her arms wrapped around Amity’s waist, holding her close. 

That was right.

They had been out in the stables last night and it had been bitterly cold outside, even with the fire doing its best to warm the small space, it had still been freezing inside and Luz had been shivering, even as she wrapped herself around Amity to keep her warm. 

“You’re freezing…” Amity frowned at Luz as she snuggled into her, trying to bury herself and the noble deeper into the hay in an attempt to keep warm. Amity hummed, arms wrapped around the knight's neck and her legs wrapped tightly around her waist. King was laid curled up into a ball beside the fire, his fur and the direct heat keeping him more than warm as he watched the two of them struggle to find warmth.

“I’m fine, are you warm enough?” Luz asked instead, tugging Amity closer into her chest. Her normally warm skin was cold to the touch, making Amity frown and run her hands up and down the knight's arms.

“You are not fine, you are freezing, Luz.” she frowned. The knight hummed, nuzzling her cold nose into mint green hair. 

“I’ll be fine, I’ve spent more than a few winters outside… it is getting colder though, you should probably head back inside before it gets even colder,” Luz told her quietly before she started to unwind herself from around the witch, but Amity only clung to her all the tighter.

“Amity…” Luz stood from the hay, arms raised up away from her sides as Amity clung to her waist and neck.

“No,” the noble grumbled into her neck. “I’m not going inside when you are out here freezing,” She growled and Luz frowned, taking a few steps forward, but still Amity clung to her.

“There is no sense in both of us staying out here and being cold.” Luz frowned as she tried to pry Amity’s arms from around her neck, but the witch didn’t budge, in fact, her grip on Luz tightened to near crushing as Luz tried to pry her off. 

“Come inside with me,” Amity mumbled in her ear and Luz froze. The words had been barely louder than a whisper but they may as well have been a shout as quickly as they stopped the knight in her tracks.

“If I get caught in your bed…,” Luz trailed off, though her protest was half-hearted at best. It was cold as all get out and she definitely didn’t hate the idea of snuggling with Amity in a bed instead of a scratchy pile of hay. Amity could hear the hesitation in her voice as well. Yes, it was a risky move, but it was freezing, and like the knight, she wanted nothing more at this moment than to curl up in her warm bed with the knight wrapped around her. She would have to capitalize on Luz’s hesitation. 

“You won’t get caught, I’ll sneak you in through the servant’s entrance and up the back stairs, no one will see us.” She leaned back to look at the knight, who still looked unsure. “Please, Luz. I’ll worry about you out here tonight, it’s freezing.” Amity breathed, warm breath fanning across Luz’s face and causing a shiver to run up her spine that had nothing to do with the temperature outside. 

Luz made a whining sound in her throat that made the witch smirk to herself and she knew she had already won before Luz could even open her mouth, 

“Okay,” her voice cracked and it was all Amity could do to keep from breaking into a fit of laughter. For all her courage and bravado, it was ridiculously easy to fluster the knight. 

“Come on.” Amity finally untangled herself from the knight and led her by the hand out of the stables toward the manor, carefully, and quietly moving across the grounds toward the servant’s entrance, carefully avoiding the patrolling night guards, whose routes and times Luz was more than familiar with. 

As they rounded the corner of the manor, Luz stopped, jerking Amity to a stop and yanked her back into her chest, freehand whipping up to cover her mouth as she pulled them flush against the wall, silencing Amity’s surprised sound. They stood hidden in the darkness of the shadow of the manor just as a guard rounded the corner, and walked right by them. They kept still as stone as he walked past, never even glancing in their direction.

They didn’t move until he had rounded the other end of the manor. 

“That was close,” Luz breathed, releasing her hold over the witch’s mouth before they hurried in through the back door and through the kitchens. Luz was not half as familiar with the inside of Blight manor as she was the grounds and let Amity lead her through the pitch-black kitchens and down the long, eerily quiet, and dim halls, the occasional sconce being the only thing keeping them from being thrown into complete and utter darkness as they skulked around the manor to the back set of stairs. Their footsteps echoed quietly off the polished wooden floors. They climbed the stairs as quietly as possible glancing around the third-floor hall. It was empty save the two of them.

Edric and Emira’s doors were closed tight and not a sound came from within. 

“Come on, come on!” Amity giggled quietly to herself as she pulled them down the hall and even Luz couldn’t help but grin, a little excited by the notion of being where she wasn’t supposed to be, as well as Amity’s own delight rubbing off on her. 

Amity’s bedroom door quietly clicked shut behind them and the witch wasted no time spinning around to wrap her arms around Luz’s neck and kiss her. Luz laughed against her mouth before pulling up out of her reach.

“I thought you brought me in so I wouldn’t be cold?” she smiled knowingly down at the witch, who grinned back. 

“You can love me and be warm at the same time, can’t you?” Amity asked, tugging her back down for another kiss, but the knight resisted this one.

“You can’t be loud…,” she warned and Amity dropped her heels back onto the floor and huffed. 

“I am not loud!” she hissed, pulling a hand back to poke Luz in the chest. 

“You kind of are…” Luz grinned, watching Amity’s face turn pink in the low moonlight shining in through the open window. 

“I’ll make you loud…,” she bit out under her breath, making Luz laugh.

“That’ll show me,” she teased with a grin as Amity scowled at her. “Getting me thrown off the manor grounds because you made me sc-” 

“Just shut up and get in the bed!” Amity yanked her by the arm, slingshotting her onto the mattress. 

Luz giggled madly behind her hands, trying to stifle the noise.

~ ~ 

Amity hummed to herself, reaching up and running the tip of her finger over the thin, pale scars that crisscrossed over the knight's chest and collar as she laid asleep, drooling on her pillow.

Amity smiled and rolled her eyes fondly, reaching up to run her thumb across the larger, pink scar that crossed the knight’s face her left ear, across her left cheek to the side of her nose, jagged and rough looking, but the skin was smooth, if not a little bumpy beneath the pad of her thumb. Luz grumbled, jaw starting to work as Amity ran her fingers across her bare skin.

By the time she had finished tracing the scar, Luz had still yet to wake, not that Amity was intentionally trying to wake her, though she would need to get up soon regardless if she was going to sneak out of the manor without being discovered. Sunlight was already pouring into her room and onto the bed from between the curtains, lighting the knight from behind and making her normally dark brown hair look almost golden as the individual strands were lit by the bright rays. 

She raised her hand up higher to trace the slightly newer scar that hovered just above her left brow, a reminder of her fight with the dragon. It was a much cleaner, smoother scar than the acid-induced one on her cheek, though it was deeper and a darker color.

Luz’s brows furrowed under her touch as she examined the skin with her fingers.

“S-stop,” she grumbled thickly, turning her head to bury her face in the pillow even as her grip on the noble tightened, pulling her in closer. Amity chuckled under her breath and tucked her head beneath the knight’s chin, closing her eyes and snuggling closer, soaking up the natural warmth Luz always seemed to exude. Her movements only drug the human further out of unconsciousness.

“Hrng…,” Luz grumbled, starting to shift. She slept like a rock, once she was in place, she didn’t move. As Amity had learned the night after the fight with the manticore, when she’d woken up with her arm pinned beneath the knight, completely dead from Luz laying on it all night. If she was moving, she would be awake soon. 

As she predicted, within a few minutes, Luz was yawning and nuzzling her face into the noble’s hair.

“Mornin…,” she mumbled and Amity smiled as she felt the knight press a kiss against the green-dyed locks.

“Morning” she smiled dopily to herself as she squeezed the knight to her, making her chuckle sleepily. 

“I need to go soon…” she said through another yawn. 

“You don’t work today…,” Amity grunted, burying her face in Luz’s neck. 

“No, but we can’t have anyone catch me here either…,” she said, even though she made no move to extract herself from Amity’s hold. Instead, she only rolled over so she hovered over the noble, who squeaked in surprise before Luz just let herself go limp smothering the witch beneath her.

“You’re heavy,” Amity huffed, though she made no move to push or move the solidly built knight off her.

“I love you too, “ Luz grinned at her, watching the witch’s ear begin to wiggle and twitch in obvious delight, the same way they did every time Luz said those words. Warm sunlight bounced off her golden Iris’s and splashed across her face, highlighting the starry splatter of freckles that were sprawled across the sharp angles of her cheeks and the bridge of her nose. Amity rolled her eyes. 

“Shut up,” she mumbled leaning up to kiss her, which Luz happily allowed.

The sudden sound of feet pounding out in the hall made Amity pause for a half-second before she realized she knew those footsteps and without warning flung Luz off the bed.

The knight yelped as she hit the floor with a loud thud, Amity ripping the blankets up to cover herself just as the bedroom door flung open.

“Mittens!” The twins yelled as they burst in, unannounced. 

“Sorry!” Edric flushed, whipping around, his back to her, but Emira felt no such compulsion. 

“Who sleeps naked in the winter?”

“Why can’t you knock!?” The youngest Blight snapped, face turning a vicious shade of red.

“Unimportant!” Emira waved a hand as if she hadn’t just run into her sister's bedroom unannounced to find her in a state of total undress. “They’re back!”

“Who’s back?” Amity blinked, still reeling from the sudden intrusion to her once, delightful morning.

“Who do you think?” Edric threw up his hands but didn’t dare turn around. “Mother and father!” 

“What?!”

“Just this morning, they're downstairs having breakfast and want us to join them, they sent us to wake you.” Emira frowned. Things had been pretty calm and serene since Lord and Lady Blight had left. All three children had no doubt in their minds that it would come to an end now that their parents had returned from their business. 

Amity scowled, muttering curses under her breath. Her parent's return was… something she would need time to absorb, she had bigger issues at hand.

Namely, how the hell was she going to get Luz out of the manor now?

She bit her lip, thinking, forgetting all about her siblings still standing in the doorway, watching her. 

“Are you coming?” Emira asked, cocking a brow at her sister’s contemplative look.

“Huh? Oh, yeah, I just need to get dressed…,” she mumbled, trying not to look over her shoulder at the place behind her where Luz was laying on the floor, just out of her sibling’s sight, in a very... compromising state of undress.

That is to say; none at all.

“Right, we’ll leave you to it, don’t be long. You know how they get…,” Emira mumbled before she closed the door and Amity sagged in relief.

“That hurt…,” Luz mumbled, sitting up and rubbing her head. 

“I’m sorry, I heard them coming. Hurry, get dressed, you have to get out of her, especially now!” Amity grumbled, sliding out of bed and quickly dressing as Luz grumbled from the floor, pulling herself up. 

It took only a minute for them to get dressed. Luz’s Dark green and magenta work tunic at least made her look more in place in the manor than if she had been wearing her personal clothes and been caught sneaking around the halls. 

“Quickly, down the servant's stairs and out, the same way we came last night,” Amity mumbled quietly to her as they moved quickly down the empty hall in that direction. Luz nodded as she stopped at the top of the servant's stairs that lead down to the back hall and kitchen. “If anyone stops you, you came in to see Bump.” 

“Right right, I’ll be fine, I killed a dragon, I can handle the kitchen staff.: she grinned at her, making Amity roll her eyes, equal part exasperation, and fondness. 

Checking to see that both the hall and the stairs were devoid of others, Amity leaned up on her toes to press a quick kiss to the knight’s lips. 

“I love you,” she mumbled. Luz hummed, murmuring the words back in a quiet breath against her lips before turning and hurrying down the stairs. Hopefully, she would make it outside with little problem from any staff or other guards. Luz could be quite sneaky and quiet when she wanted to be, which was not as often as it should have been. 

Once she had disappeared from sight, Amity turned and hurried down the hall toward the main staircase. Worry was already beginning to bubble up in her gut, as it often did before any interaction with her parents. 

She had known of course that eventually, her parents would return from their business adventures, even if she kind of hoped they never would. Things at the manor were so much more simple when they were away. 

It was no secret that the Lord and Lady of Blight Manor were cold, ruthless, and shrewd to a fault. Every interaction with her parents had always felt like dealing with a money lender. Everything was a matter of what they could gain from the situation, and at what cost, even with their own children. 

Nothing that could make the family name be looked poorly at would stand in her parents' eyes. Like Willow, who had been weak and sickly as a child, as well as from a much lower class family. 

Her parents had tried to force her to weed her out of her life, but she couldn't do it. The apothecary had been her only friend for many years and was still her closest friend.

She couldn't even begin to fathom what would happen if they found out about Luz. Being knight was respectable enough, but Luz had not been one long enough to earn a reputation, not one her parents would find lucrative enough to even consider the match at least. Even if it were, the fact that she was human was something that they would not be willing to overlook. Never mind the fact that Amity loved her, that would have no bearing on her parent's decision, she was entirely certain.

If they found out, they would no doubt cast Luz off the manor grounds to start with, separating the two. 

That alone would make it incredibly difficult to see her, but she also knew that they would probably not stop there, especially if Luz persisted, and knowing the knight, she would. 

She sighed, mentally preparing herself as she hurried down the stairs and toward the dining hall where her parents and siblings were no doubt waiting for her.

Taking one last calming breath, she pushed open the doors to the dining hall and walked in. Her family looked up as she entered. Her father, seated at the head of the table with her mother to his right and Edric to his left, Emira seated across from him. 

"We've been waiting for you, Amity," her father’s deep voice rumbled out in the quiet of the room as she appeared.

Her eyes locked with an identical, golden pair, staring back at her from Alador Blight's sharp-featured face. Auburn hair swept back from his forehead, and his squared jaw was covered by a neatly kept and trimmed beard that had grown a bit longer since she had seen him last.

"You shouldn't sleep so late, dear," her mother's voice rang out next from her place sitting on her father's right. 

Odalia Blight, dressed sublimely, as usual, was sitting as imperious as always, back straight and not a single hair out of the place in her neat, green bun and perfectly washed and pressed dress. 

"Of course, mother," Amity said as she moved toward her place at the table to her sister's left.

The twins shot her a surreptitiously worried look as she sat and they began to have breakfast.

No unnecessary greetings or words were spoken, despite not having seen their parents in months. It was a far cry from how meals were had when it was just the siblings, which were loud, vibrant affairs, despite Amity's protests to them most of the time.

She definitely enjoyed those meals that were just her and her siblings far more than those with her parents. 

Stiff, quiet, formal, and oppressive. Even the air felt heavy as the siblings kept their heads down and ate without a word unless spoken to, which was rarely.

All three siblings felt a certain relief by the end of the meal as the dishes were carried away by the staff.

"Edric, Emira, you're both excused," Alador said with a wave of his hand.

The twins both looked at Amity before turning back to their father.

"What about Amity?" Edric asked.

"We need to speak to your sister, you are dismissed," Their mother answered this time, and the tone was more than apparent. She was already exasperated with them for having to answer even that question. 

Amity sent a small smile the twins' way, silently letting them know it was okay. They frowned but said nothing else as they left the room.

"You wish to speak to me?" Amity turned back to her parents. Her father nodded, threading his fingers together in front of him as he set his elbows on the table. 

"Yes, we have some news for you, Amity. As I'm sure you're aware, for years our family has had a close working relationship with the Arrogáns on the far side of the island, dealing between our families have always yielded very prosperous results," he said.

"Of course," Amity nodded. The Arrogáns were naval merchants, their money made in transporting goods all across the islands, including Blight Abomination slurry.

They were obscenely rich and high class, much like the Blight's, and just as smarmily arrogant.

"Lord Arrogáns eldest daughter has been making a name for herself as a knight in tournaments and has recently returned from some travels across the island." Her mother decided to contribute to the conversation, drawing Amity's gaze. Her parents did not contribute to idle chatter, so they were telling her this for some reason, though she had not yet been able to decide why. She knew that if she kept her mouth closed and nodded in the appropriate places, they would eventually come to the point.

"Yes, the Arrogáns heir is quite skilled from what we've seen, and well versed in the business she is due to inherit." Her father nodded along and something about the way he said that caused Amity's stomach to churn nervously as she looked between her parents. 

“What about her?” she couldn’t help but ask, and immediately caught the disapproving look on her mother’s face for speaking out of turn, which just for today, she ignored as her father sat back in his chair and regarded her silently for a moment, eyes sliding to Odalia for a brief moment before returning to Amity. 

“We were away longer than we planned because we have been working out the details or your betrothal to her with Lord Arrogàns," Her father finally said and Amity froze solid. She was fairly certain her heart had stopped actually and her blood had turned to ice in her veins. 

Surely she had misheard him and he hadn’t just said that they had engaged her to some nobles eldest child? The way they were looking at her, however, told her that she had heard them quite well. 

“What?” Her voice came out as a squeak as she looked between the two of them, gold eyes blown wide as her fingers dug into the fabric of her dress over her knees. “I am perfectly capable of finding my own betrothed,” she managed to hiss between her teeth. Her father's cold eyes were trained on her as they narrowed further.

“We have spent the last two years introducing you to the finest young men and women the nobles of the Boiling Isles have to offer and you have turned your nose up at all of them, not taking any of their qualities into consideration….” Her father began, sounding exasperated. 

“You mean their money,” she cut him off as, again her mouth opened before she could think better of it and her father’s eyes narrowed even further at her words, but her shock was already fading, turning to anger in the pit of her stomach.

“The only reason to marry is to better one’s standing,” Alador said rigidly. “To gain influence, either through a dowry or by the acquisition of someone that can better one’s familial position.” 

“Some people marry for love,” What was wrong with her today? Either her parents had been away too long or Luz had been rubbing off on her. Before she met the knight she would have done and said nothing unless her parents asked her a question or dismissed her, but now she was only angry, especially as she thought of the knight. 

The change in attitude did not go unnoticed by her parents either, both of whom were looking at her from narrowed eyes, lips pulled down in less than pleased frowns. 

“Love has nothing to do with marriage,” Odalia’s voice cut through the thick air like a sword through flesh. “Commoners marry for love because they have nothing else of value,” she sniffed. “Do you think your father and I love each other? We were best suited to elevate each other's status among our circles.” The prideful way her mother stated that fact made her skin crawl. She knew it was the way among the upper classes, marrying for status, but Amity didn’t want that. 

She wanted Luz.

“You are a Blight, Amity. You have value, value that is plain to everyone. The deal is done and they have paid the dowry. Your new betrothed will be here at the end of next week to meet you. We’re throwing a ball in welcome and to celebrate the coming prosperous union between our two families,” Her father informed her.

Amity had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from saying anything she would regret. 

That was just it wasn’t it? Not even to celebrate her and her new intended, much as she already hated that thought, but to celebrate the money that would no doubt pour in from an even closer working relationship between their two families that were soon to be connected by marriage. 

Amity felt sick.

“You’ll need a new dress…,” her mother hummed to herself, completely oblivious to her youngest daughter’s state, or perhaps despite it. “We’ll go see the tailor tomorrow…”

Amity heard little of what her parents were saying now, stuck in her own thoughts about her impending marriage until her father called her name, making her look up, more out of habit than anything else.

“You may go now, Amity.” He nodded and she stood, moving numbly out of the dining hall and up the stairs toward her room.

She didn’t know what to think and let her feet carry her blindly to her bedroom, still reeling from everything that had just happened. 

What was she going to do?

The absolute last thing she wanted to do was marry some stranger because it would make her parents more money, or bring them greater clout among their circle of friends and acquaintances.

That was all she and her siblings were really. Pawns in the political game her parents played with the other nobles of the empire; a vessel for their legacy until it was their turn to play the game. 

What about what she wanted? She was the one who had to live her life, not them! 

What about Luz? 

Her chest tightened painfully at the thought of the sweet, brave knight that she loved so much. 

She had to tell her… but what was she going to say to her? 

Her eyes started to burn, but she quickly blinked away any tears before they could fall and hurried down the hall to her bedroom before any servants could see her. That was the last thing she needed on top of this. 

She grit her teeth, hands clenched into fists as she threw open her bedroom door and slammed it shut behind her.

"Whoa, Mittens!" 

Her head snapped up to find her brother and sister sitting on her bed looking at her with worried faces.

"What happened, what did they want?" Edric asked as they both hurried over to her.

Amity frowned, looking at their worried faces, which only seemed to grow more worried by the second as Amity's eyes began to burn again, glazing over with unshed tears. 

"They engaged me to someone," she finally managed to make the words come out and the twins' faces shifted to mirror expressions of shock.

"What!?" Emira shouted.

"They got you an intended?!" Edric blanched.

She jerked her head in a sharp nod. 

"Who?" They both asked at the same time.

"Lord Arrogàns eldest daughter…," she bit out. The twins looked at each other for a moment before turning back to her.

"What about…" Edric stopped short, glancing at Emira, unsure if he should say it. 

"What about Luz?" she asked softly.

Standing there, in front of her siblings, both looking at her with such soft and sad understanding in their faces, the dam broke and Amity choked on a sob as she finally let the tears that had been threatening to fall, spilled over and down her cheeks. Sobs wracked her body in great choking heaves. 

"I… I don't know…" she cried, sliding down to the floor on her knees as she pressed the heels of her palms to her eyes and cried.

She continued to cry even as two pairs of arms wrapped tightly around her and held her close.


	20. Chapter 20

The night was bitterly cold once again, but Luz had been working on her glyphs all evening, ever since she had returned from town and spending the day with Willow and Gus. She’d managed to make the room much warmer than it had been last night, not that she hadn’t enjoyed spending the night in the manor, or more specifically, Amity’s bed. 

She managed to slip out of the manor unnoticed, or at the very least unquestioned by anyone who cared enough to pay any attention to her, which were not as many as probably should have been since Luz had never had anything but gate duty all the months she had been there, there was no reason for her to be in the manor, but her often close proximity to Amity and her obvious good favor with bump meant no one really questioned her.

King had been laying right where she left him the night before, the same place he was laying right now as she laid in her hay pile and waited for Amity to arrive. At least, she hoped she would. She didn’t know if she would be able to come now that her parents had come back from their business; things seemed a little up in the air at the moment. 

She frowned to herself as she thought about the look that had come over Amity’s face after the twins had left and she had been getting dressed. 

It wasn’t worried, per se. Luz knew what her worried face looked like, it was directed at her all the time; Luz knew that particular look even in her sleep. 

No, it was something else that Luz had never seen on her love’s face before and thus was hard to put a name to. Though, if she had to, she would call it dread.

Luz had heard plenty about Lord and Lady Blight and none of it had exactly been glowing reviews. Not from Willow and Gus, nor Viney, who seemed to know a little more than her other friends, not even from the other guards, though, the only one she spoke to at any length was Jerbo. 

Amity had looked like she absolutely dreaded the very idea that her parents had come back, much less that she had to go and see them. The human hummed and dropped her head back into the hay, staring up at the roof. Now she was the one worried, they had parted on decent enough terms when Luz had kissed her goodbye, but she knew Amity. She could easily see the tension in her shoulders and the way her ears had drooped. 

She frowned and then a weight in her lap made her look up to find King with his head laying across her thighs and looking at her with bored, crimson eyes, yet she could see the knowing look within. He wasn’t nearly as nonchalant as he thought himself. She smiled at him and ran her fingers through the short, coarse fur between his ears.

“Thanks buddy, I’m sure it’s fine…,” she hummed more to herself than to the demonic wolf who grumbled and growled as she scratched at his ears.

Shuffling at the entrance to the stables made her look up to find Amity walking in and Luz sat up, grinning brightly at the sight of her.

“Amity!” she greeted, drawing the wtiche’s eyes and immediately the smile fell from Luz’s lips when she caught sight of Amity’s face. “What’s wrong?” she asked and Amity flinched, knowing by her tone that Luz had already picked up on her less than great mood. Even after sitting with her brother and sister for hours, trying to get herself under control before she could face Luz again, her face had betrayed her.

“Who said anything was wrong?” she tried anyway, trying to force as much casualness in her voice as possible, but Luz’s frown only deepened as she looked up at her.

“What happened with your parents?” Luz asked, brows dipping between her eyes and Amity clenched her fists, glancing anywhere but at Luz, every rigid line in her body made the tension in Luz’s grow by the second, she could just sense how upset the witch was and it caused a yawning pit of worry and unease to open in her stomach as dread of her own began to crawl up her spine in a cold chill. “Amity…,” she called again and after a few long seconds, the noble turned to her finally. The flickering light of the fire shone across her eyes, glinting off the watery glaze there and her lips trembled. 

Luz shot to her feet and crossed the distance between them in the blink of an eye, hands reaching up to clasp the nobles soft cheeks between her hands. Amity closed her eyes and reached up to press her hands over the ones laid across her cheeks. She pressed her face into one of the knight’s palms and relished the tender ministrations, even as pain thrummed anew beneath her skin at the feather light touch. 

“Amity, what is it? What happened?” Luz asked her quietly, voice soft, barely above a whisper even in the quiet of the stables. Amity bit her lip, eyes squeezed tightly shut. Maybe, if she didn’t have to look at her it would be easy to say the words that were sticking to the sides of her throat.

“I…,” she started and her shoulders shook with a choked back sob. Luz only grew more worried by the second as tears started to leak out of the witch’s eyes.

“Hey, It’s gonna be okay, whatever it is, Amity.” She tried to assure the crying woman who just shook her head as more tears leaked from her eyes.

“No… it isn’t,” she managed to hiccup, finally opening her teary eyes to look up at Luz’s worried brown eyes that stared back at her and it only caused another jolt of pain to shoot through her chest. “Luz… I’m engaged.”

A meteor falling out of the sky and through the stable roof to strike her dead would have surprised Luz less than the words that had just passed between Amity’s lips. 

“W-what!?” The knight yelped and Amity flinched at the tone. “What do you mean you’re engaged!?” she was shouting, and she didn’t mean to, but she couldn't help it, shock was still settling over her. Amity sniffled, eyes focussed on the hay covered ground beneath their feet, unable to look Luz in the eyes another moment.

“I mean… my parents got tired of waiting for me to make a decision and found someone for me…,” she spat angrily even as tears continued to slip down her cheeks. 

“They can’t do that they…They can’t just...!” Luz stammered and stuttered, so many words rushing into her mouth at the same time she couldn't even think to complete a sentence. 

“Yes, they can, and they did!” Amity snapped suddenly, pulling away from Luz to turn and face away from her, arms wrapped around herself and shoulders bunched up to her ears. Luz frowned, watching her shake for a moment before slowly stepping forward and wrapping her arms around Amity, who sunk back into the sudden touch, body still tense. They were quiet for a long while, Luz squeezing the trembling noble to her chest, face buried in her hair till the witch had ceased her shaking. Luz lowered them gently to the floor where they sat curled up together in a tight ball, Amity planted squarely on the knight’s lap. Luz, with her arms wrapped tightly around her, nuzzled her face against Amity's seeking comfort in the other’s presence.

"What are we going to do?" Luz asked quietly, her chin resting atop the noble’s head. Amity pursed her lips, tucking her head all the further beneath Luz’s chin and sucking up as much of her scent and warmth as possible. She didn’t want to think about any of that right now, she just wanted to sit here in Luz’s arms and pretend, even if just for a little bit longer that everything wasn’t crashing down around her.

“I don’t know,” she mumbled, turning to bury her face in the knight’s throat. 

“Can I… fight her?” Luz asked after a moment. That made Amity sit back to look at her. “Couldn’t I like… challenge her to a duel for you, nobles actually do that right?” she asked and Amity sighed, pulling back to look up at her better.

“Nobles do, yes, but you aren’t a noble, Luz. You’re not even a witch; they would never accept your challenge because they would view you as beneath them. My family has done business with the Arrogáns for years, they are among the most powerful and rich noble lines in all the Boiling Isles, they would never take you seriously even if you've killed a dragon; even if it had been full grown!" Amity sneered, turning to look anywhere but at Luz, who frowned, looking down at the witch held tightly in her arms.

"I don't want to lose you… I love you, Amity," she finally murmured, drawing Amity's eyes back to her.

The green haired witch frowned and reached up to press her hands to Luz's cheeks, drawing her head down till their foreheads were pressed together softly.

"I love you too, and this was the last thing I ever wanted, Luz… but I don't think it can be stopped." Her voice grew tight as she forced out those painful words. From where she sat, there was nothing she could do. Her parents had already paid the dowry and made all the agreements, in essence, she belonged to her new betrothed. 

Luz's grip on the back of her shirt turned white knuckle tight. 

There had to be a way…

~ ~ 

The days leading up to the party and her new intended arrival seemed to drag for Amity, especially as the youngest Blight was drug to and fro around town by her mother, looking for a new dress, but the noble had finally had enough and if she was going to be forced into marriage with some no doubt, arrogant, self-serving noble with more money than brains, she was at least going to have her way where she could, and that included turning down every poofy, and ugly woolen dress her mother tried to foist on her, turning her nose up at every swathe of ugly, vomit green fabric she tried to give her.

She could feel her mother's rising ire but she didn't care, they were already taking away the one thing she cared about most, there was nothing more they could do to her.

In the end she got the least offensible dress to her senses, if she had to have one. There was little she could do to get out of the long hours she was forced along with Edric and Emira to learn everything there was to know about the Arrogáns and her new fiancée as well their business. 

Amity had been to a number of gatherings thrown by the family, but she had never actually met the woman. Seen her from a distance perhaps, but never had they been formally introduced. 

She wasn’t looking forward to it now either.

“This is shit…,” Edric grumbled to himself as he flopped onto Amity’s bed after they had finished another lesson on the various heraldry symbolism of the Arrogán family. 

“Which part?” Emira asked with a frown as she plopped herself down beside him. “The impending marriage or that we also have to learn all this shit?” she asked, looking at him as she leaned back on her hands.

“Both!” he threw up his hands and scowled up at the ceiling. 

Amity sighed and seated herself at her vanity and turned to look in the mirror. She looked tired, but she hadn’t exactly been sleeping well the last few nights, not to mention she had been keeping her distance from the stables over that time as well. With everything going on, patrols had been stepped up in anticipation of all the guest that would soon be in attendance and it was nearly impossible for her to go out outside the manor, even in the dead of night to see Luz, that and the knight had been rather busy herself.

Helping get things ready for her lover to marry someone else.

Amity grimaced at that thought. She couldn’t imagine how she would feel if their places were reversed and she was the one having to help haul and guard cargo meant for Luz’s engagement to someone else. 

They hadn't had a chance to talk not once since that night in the stables when Amity had told her she was getting married. There hadn’t been a time or place, not with Odalia dragging her youngest to and fro from town and locking them up in the manor for these damned heraldry and lineage lessons while Luz was pulled by Bump to help move supplies of food and drink from town to the manor for the party. 

They had passed each other once or twice and more then a few meaningful looks had passed between them but Luckily, no one seemed to be paying attention when they happened to glance at each other, the looks on their faces were much too telling as it were. 

Amity sighed again under her breath before turning back to her siblings. 

“I’m sorry the two of you are getting wrapped up in this as well,” Amity mumbled. The twins shared a brief look before turning back to her. 

“Don’t be sorry for us, Amity.” Edric frowned as he sat up. “This shit is mind-numbing, yes…”

“But we aren’t the ones being forced to marry some noble we’ve never met so mother and father can get a little richer…,” Emira scowled and Edric made an agreeing noise in the back of his throat. “Have you had a chance to talk to Luz again since the other night?” her sister asked and Amity shook her head, frowning as she looked up to meet their eyes, but quickly averted them when she caught sight of the pitying look in them, turning toward her vanity.

A splash of pink and white caught her attention and she reached out to grasp it between her fingers. The shell was just as smooth beneath her fingertips as it had been the last time she had picked it up, and every time before that. It’s cool, polished surface shined under the light of the sconces that lit the room.

Everything about the little shell reminded her of Luz, and not just because it was the knight that had given it to her. It was small and unassuming on the surface, pretty enough with its glossy white shell and wavy bands of pale pink that traveled all along the ridges, tapering away at the opening. The kind of thing you would probably walk right by on the beach without giving it a second glance, if it ever managed to catch your attention at all. It was pretty, but it didn’t appear to be anything special.

She turned it about in her fingers before flipping it over, opening face up in the light and smiled to herself as it bounced off the insides, making the vibrant, opalescent inside shine as the light hit it. Vivid hues of green, blues, pinks and every shade in between shimmered as she twisted her fingers around so that it caught the light at different angles, causing the various hues to come to life in bright flashes. 

Luz was a lot like that. 

On the outside, pretty enough, if not rather unassuming and plain in appearance, you would be hard pressed to notice her among everything else, but for those who took the time to look deeper than the surface, they would see the truth; Luz was amazing. She was clever and witty with the sweetest disposition Amity had ever come across, which made it all the more surprising when she flipped with the draw of a sword to someone so intensely fierce and strong. Something that always made fire shoot through Amity. 

She loved the human knight more than she was capable of giving voice too and every time she thought about her impending marriage to some stranger, her throat threatened to close and her chest tightened painfully as her eyes stung with tears she could only barely choke back. 

She placed the shell back on the vanity and turned back to her siblings.

“There has to be something I can do… I don't wanna lose her…,” she mumbled and the twins could plainly see the pained look on their sister’s face. 

“What if we kill her?” Edric tossed out, holding up a hand, both his sister’s whipped to look at him incredulously.“What?!” 

“We can’t just kill her, Ed!” Emira barked, while Amity sighed, pressing her fingers to her temple tiredly. She loved her siblings, really she did, but sometimes she just didn’t know what t do with them. 

“So, what? We just let Mittens be sold off to the highest bidder when they get here tomorrow?” He asked, scowling.

“The wedding isn’t going to be until late spring, we have time to come up with something that isn’t murder,” Emira huffed, rolling her eyes at him.

“It would be the fastest,” he grumbled, folding his arms over his chest and pouting. Amity did have agree with him on that point. 

“They may even call it off themselves before then, you never know,” the eldest Blight daughter suggested, turning away from her sulking brother to look at Amity, who made a face.

“That seems highly unlikely, and what if that is the case? What do Luz and I do until then, just not talk or see each other?” She stood abruptly and began to pace around the room, the twins watched her aggravated movements silently. “Just spend the next few months pretending there's nothing between us while I try and figure out something to do with this noble knight I don’t even want?!” She threw up her hands.

Emira stood from the bed and walked over to lay a gentle hand on her sister’s tense shoulder.

“I know this is frustrating and it seems hopeless at the moment, but there has to be something we can do to get you out of this betrothal, Amity. Maybe, make you undesirable somehow?” Her sister suggested and Amity hummed thoughtfully. 

“Maybe…” Before she could finish that thought a knock at the door made them all turn to look. “Come in,” Amity called and the door opened, only for one of the family's many servants to appear in the doorway, head bowed in deference. 

“Apologies for the intrusion, my lady, but Lord and Lady Blight require your presence downstairs in the foyar post haste,” he said, eyes trained on the floor at her feet, not making eye contact, just the way her parents liked all the servants not to. Amity’s fists clenched at her sides.

“I’m coming, thank you,” she said, dismissing him and he gave a half bow before stepping back out, closing the door behind him.

“What do you think they want now?” Edric asked as he stood from the bed and walked over to them.

"I don't know… but putting it off won't change whatever it is…," Amity grumbled smoothing out any wrinkles, imaginary or otherwise from the pleated skirt of her dress. 

"We'll come with you," Emira smiled, giving her shoulder a slight squeeze.

"Yeah!" Edric grinned, coming up on her other side. 

"They didn't call for you two…," Amity started and Edric snorted. 

"We just happened to be walking through the foyer at the same time you, we didn’t follow you or anything.” Her brother gave her that shit eating-grin the two were famous for and she couldn't help but grin back.

“Okay…”

They moved quickly out of her room and down the main stairs. Their parents were standing in the middle of the grand foyer; they turned to look at them as they approached.

“Ah, Amity, there you are you are, good. Come meet your new betrothed,” her father said and the Blight siblings all froze as their parents stepped aside to reveal the previously hidden occupant of the room. “This is Boscha Arrogán,” Alador introduced, allowing the new witch to step forward. 

She was taller than Amity, probably Luz’s height and build, but that was where the similarities ended. The witch in front of her had long, red hair, pulled back in a perfectly neat bun save two long strands that framed her face as she looked down at Amity with three pale, blue-gray eyes, set in a long, sharp face that was almost standard on the noble lines of the Boling Isles. She was dressed in a fine tunic and cloak of her family's colors of black and a dark mustard yellow.

The cocky smile plastered across her face was a look Amity was more than familiar with and arrogance oozed from every pour in the other witche’s body as she stepped forward and held out a hand, palm facing upward for Amity to slip hers into. 

“A pleasure to finally meet you, Lady Blight.” Smooth smugness dripped from every word as Amity set her hand in Boscha’s outstretched one, out of social obligation only. She kept her face neutral as the other woman’s lips pressed to the back of her hand, an act that made her skin crawl as if trying to escape the vile touch.

“A pleasure to meet you as well, Lady Arrogán…” she put on her best persona as she made the other noble’s acquaintance, doing her best to sound like she meant it while it was the farthest thing from the truth. 

“You’re actually quite lovely,” She smirked and Amity felt a spike of annoyance at the way the words were delivered. As though she had expected Amity to be a dog. The look on her face told the youngest Blight that this should have been considered a complement of the highest order. She bit back the growl and scatheing words that rushed to the tip of her tongue. 

"Thank you," she managed to get out, sounding mostly sincere as her parents watched nearby.

"Lovely,” Odalia Blight smiled at the two, one that could never be construed as anything but thinly veiled, cloying, vapidness. “Amity, this is the first time Boscha has ever been to Bomesburough and since she arrived early, why don’t you take her and show her around the city?” she turned her gaze onto Amity, who very much wanted to do anything but that, but recognized the non-request when she heard and grit her teeth.

“Of course mother,” she nodded, trying to ignore the way the grip on her hand tightened briefly before Amity jerked it free to rest at her side, Boscha’s eyes flashed dangerously, but only Amity saw the flicker in them and felt a chill run up her spine. 

“Good, take the two gate guards along with you and do be back before dinner, we still have the final details for tomorrow night to iron out when we introduce the two of you as an affianced couple to all our associates who will be in attendance,” Alador said before he turned and walked away with his wife following along behind him, leaving the three Blight children and Boscha alone in the foyer. 

“Boscha, these are my brother and sister, Edric and Emira,” Amity swallowed her pride and ugly feelings to at least not be rude and introduce her new betrothed to her siblings. 

“A pleasure” Emira nodded to her, trying to at least pretend a little. 

“Nice to meet you,” Edric managed to bite out without as much snap as it usually would have.

“Yeah… sure.” She grunted, giving them a look that made the twins frown. “Well, let’s go.” Boscha turned and headed for the door, not even looking to see if Amity was following as she went out the door. She shared a brief look with the twins, who scowled at her back and shrugged before Amity sighed silently to herself and followed along behind her.


	21. Chapter 21

Amity hadn’t thought the day could get any worse, how could it when it started with a long, mind-numbing lesson on how black and yellow had become the colors of the Arrogán family heraldry eighty years ago, followed closely by her new intended making an early appearance at the manor and being forced to show her around town?

Luz; that was what could make it so much worse.

Amity bit the inside of her cheek as they approached the front gates.

The two guards standing out at the gate were the two usual suspects, which had thrilled Amity before. She could go out at any time and pull Luz to accompany her places and no one would blink an eye, because she had been on duty, so it was convenient. Now, however, the sight of her love sent dread pulsing through her veins for a multitude of reasons. The first of which being that Amity did not want Luz anywhere near Boscha if she could help it and second, the last thing she wanted was for Luz of all people to have to be the one to escort her and the other witch around Bonesburrough for the day. She wanted to make this affair as painless for Luz as possible, even if it was painful for Amity herself, her knight deserved at least that much if Amity could make it so.

A sharp, cold breeze blew through the grounds, whipping at her hair and thick, woolen dress, sending goosebumps popping up all along her arms as she followed the redhead toward the gate. She hoped this afternoon would be as quick and painless as possible.

“Hey, you two!” Boscha snapped, making the two jump and turn to her. Luz looked at her before her eyes were drawn to Amity trailing along behind, giving her a nervous look that made Luz frown, head tilted in confusion as she glanced back at the redhead and Amity could see the moment of realization dawn on her face as she made the connection between Amity and this new witch. Her eyes lit up with recognition before they narrowed dangerously and a deep frown pulled at her lips.

“We’re going to town, you two will escort us,” she ordered, stopping outside the gate as Amity caught up to her. She flashed a look at Luz, trying to convey in a quick second how sorry she was for this and she seemed to understand by the look in her eyes as their gaze locked for a brief moment.

"Jerbo, Luz, if you would please escort us to town." She glanced between them, and perhaps feeling the tension in the air, or maybe just seeing the tightening in Luz's jaw, it was Jerbo who stepped forward to speak before the human knight had a chance.

"Of course, Lady Blight." He nodded dipping at the waist.

Boscha sniffed, rolling all three of her eyes as they started down the road toward town. The three-eyed knight was not one to keep her opinions to herself, however, as Amity learned a moment later when she spoke up.

“Don’t get friendly with them, you need to keep them in their place.” She turned to Amity, completely ignoring the two guards trailing behind them, well within earshot. Luz scowled at the back of the red-haired witch’s head and Jerbo patted her arm silently, though he too was annoyed by it, he was used to it.

“Excuse me?” Amity’s head whipped up to her.

"If you're too familiar with them they'll begin to get bold, think themselves our equals," Boscha warned her, making the other noble frown deeply, jaw working silently as she resisted the urge to snap something back, and oh, how she wanted to, but she wasn’t going to make this situation any better for herself by getting hostile with her new betrothed, even as much as she wanted to slap the arrogance right off her face.

They worked for them, but they weren't slaves; despite what Boscha seemed to think. It took a herculean effort, but she managed to swallow the scathing words burning at the tip of her tongue. She kept her mouth closed, worried about what might come out against her will if she didn’t.

"When we're married I'll see to all of that if you can’t," she threw in a final comment and Amity sneered, though it went unnoticed as Boscha was no longer paying her any mind as they moved through the busy market section of the city.

Behind them, Luz was seething just listening to the witch as she not only talked about them as though they were something Boscha had found stuck to the bottom of her boot and weren't walking just a few feet behind them but also at the mere mention of her impending marriage to Amity and the dismissive way she spoke to her.

"You gotta relax," Jerbo whispered urgently to her. "I know the Blight siblings treat us pretty well, but this is pretty standard for your average noble," he reminded her. "They always think they're better than us, we're just really lucky to work under Bump."

Luz grumbled under her breath. She knew he was right; she'd been around enough nobles in her time to know exactly how they were, even worse really, being human and all.

But she'd never had to stand by and watch one of those stuffy, self-centered nobles be engaged to the love of her life; and to treat her the way she was on top of it as well!

Luz was steaming as she watched the two interact. The other knight, apparently, had begun to tell Amity a story about a chimera she had seen and Luz wanted to snort.

Sure, chimera's were tough, but they weren't dragons, and the witch was talking like she had killed one barehanded and not just watched it from a distance.

Amity seemed to already be losing her patience for the posturing as well and scoffed, making the three-eyed witch frown as they walked along the street toward a familiar towering plume of smoke that was moving quickly through the air today, away from the city.

“As impressive as that sounds, just this past autumn a local knight felled a red dragon that was plaguing a nearby village,” Amity said so casually like she was commenting on the weather. Boscha’s face fell and it took everything Jerbo had not to break into mad laughter at the look on her face, while Luz smirked.

The look was short-lived and the haughty, arrogant one returned in force.

“You shouldn't believe every rumor you hear, Blight.” Boscha scoffed and Amity could feel her ire rising further.

“It wasn’t a rumor, in fact, I was gifted with scales and Sir Bump with its head from one of our own.” Amity turned to look at Luz over her shoulder and the knight couldn’t help but puff up proudly at the praise.

Boscha turned to look at her as well, dark brows dipping low over her eyes as she looked at the guard, eyes zeroing in on her ears and it was clear what she was looking at by the way her lips began to curl up.

“You have a human working for you?” The way she asked it, lips curled up in a disgusted sneer and the sudden stiffening in Luz’s frame told Amity exactly how this might be about to play out. She quickly brought Boscha's attention back to herself before anything could happen, back straight and face set in the same imperious look her mother always leveled at her as she stared down the Arrogán heir.

“She is a member of our staff just like all the others,” Amity insisted as those three, pale blue-gray eyes bore into her.

"They steal and carry disease," Boscha sniffed haughtily and Amity couldn’t help but scowl right back at her, fury welling up in her gut on Luz’s behalf as she heard the same rhetoric that had no doubt perpetuated the wholesale extermination of humankind when her ancestors had first come to the boiling Isles.

"She does no such thing," Amity couldn’t help but snap. "She is a skilled knight and a member of our staff who has proven herself beyond a shadow of a doubt, and you are not in charge of my family's staff, Arrogán,” Amity said, narrowing her eyes at Boscha as she looked down the end of her nose at her, an impressive feat given she was shorter than the other witch currently scowling back at her.

Boscha scoffed, turning her head away.

“Keep whatever dubious sorts you’d like under your employ then,” she sniffed as she turned and started back the way they had been heading, the blacksmiths.

Amity shot a look Luz’s way and the knight smiled at her before she turned to follow after Boscha.

“I already hate her,” the knight grumbled to Jerbo as they followed along, he gave an agreeing hum of acknowledgment and nodded as they followed along behind them.

“She certainly… something…,” he said, much too polite to say much else about the red-haired noble.

Viney just happened to be standing out front of her shop looking down the edge of a dagger with a critical eye when they approached.

She glanced up to look at Boscha for a moment as the other knight looked over her wares with a less than impressed expression before she spotted Amity just behind her.

“Hey, Amity,” the smith grinned, and then her eyes landed on Luz and Jerbo coming up behind her. “And two of my favorite guards!” she smiled. “What can I do for you guys today?” she asked, looking between the three.

“I’m showing my… betrothed around town,” Amity managed to say neutrally but the look that flashed across her face told a story all its own to the blacksmith.

“Your betr-…” Viney’s jaw hung slack and her eyes shot open as she looked at the other noble still looking over her wares before her eyes slid to Luz and the sour expression on her face told the smith everything she needed to know. “I see…” Viney frowned.

“Is this the best stuff you have?” Boscha cut in, looking at her expectantly and the stout woman frowned.

"There's more inside the shop that might suit your tastes," she said evenly, but the set of her brow told a different story. Boscha only grunted and moved inside, leaving them.

"What the hell is going on?" The smith whipped around to look at the other three with understandable confusion. Amity sighed tiredly.

“My parents arranged a marriage for me while they were away on business to the heir of the Arrogán family,” Amity grumbled, hands clenched into fists at her sides.

“I take it that’s Boscha Arrogán?” Viney hooked a thumb over her shoulder and looked unimpressed. “I’ve met the other three Arrogán children, her brother’s. They aren’t half that bad and she only said like, seven words,” Viney grunted.

“I’m not exactly fond of her and we’ve only been acquainted all of twenty minutes…” Amity frowned and Viney made a face in response.

“So what about…?” Her eyes flickered to the still very sour-looking Luz standing next to Jerbo behind Amity.

“I’m… trying to figure out what to do about it all,” Amity admitted tiredly, shoulders tense as she slouched and Luz looked at her sadly. Viney crossed her arms as she looked between the two of them, mouth screwed up in thought.

“Yeah, that might be difficult,” she mumbled to herself. Before she could say anything else the other noble reappeared from inside the shop, looking disappointed.

“You don’t have anything made of oakstone?” she asked, looking thoroughly unimpressed.

“It’s expensive and not many people ask for it, if you have something specific you want I can make it, otherwise, no.” Viney looked at her, arms still crossed and hip cooked as she stared back at the noble. Boscha made a disappointed tsking sound.

“Let’s go.” she turned to Amity, who bristled at the command. Luz growled lowly under her breath, but just loud enough to draw the redheaded noble's attention.

“You have a problem, human?” she spat out, glaring at Luz.

“No, my lady!” Jerbo quickly jumped in before Luz could do or say anything that would get her into trouble. “She merely had something in her throat...” He glanced at Luz who remained silent for a long half-second before she caught sight of Amity over the witch's shoulder, sending her a pleading look.

She swallowed her pride and gave a jerky nod.

“Something caught in my throat,” she agreed, making a show of clearing it before Boscha turned away from her without another glance. Jerbo patted her arm and Viney shot her an understanding look but there was definitely a hint of pity in the smith’s dark, olive-colored eyes and Luz quickly turned away to follow the two nobles with Jerbo.

They spent the next hour escorting the three-eyed witch around town, Amity pointing out any key buildings and Boscha responding with snarky comments at worst and bored disinterest at best. It was a long and wearying afternoon for everyone involved. Everyone except for Boscha perhaps, who spent the time seeming to be above the whole thing, much to Amity’s palpable annoyance, Luz’s growing anger, and Jerbo’s fatigue at keeping his friend in check, lest she do something to get herself thrown out of the manor, or maybe something even worse.

They were finally headed back toward the manor, the cold wind had picked up as the late afternoon edged into the evening and the sun slowly made its way closer and closer toward the horizon, casting long shadows across the street.

Luz was stewing in her head as she followed along behind the two nobles with Jerbo at her side. If she could, she would have glared a hole into the back of Boscha’s head by now; killing her.

She grumbled to herself quietly under her breath. She wasn’t only mad, but she had been watching Amity become more and more run down over the course of the day by the other noble as they went and she really just wanted nothing more than to shove the redhead into a ditch and wrap Amity up in her arms where she belonged. She knew the green-haired witch well and could tell how run down she was becoming with it all. Her fists clenched at her sides and she sighed trying to release some of the frustrated energy burning up inside her.

Getting angry and doing something stupid would not help Amity or herself right now, she needed to come up with a real plan.

She glanced out at the street and on the other side saw a few witchlings playing with a ball. One kicked it and it went flying past one and rolling out into the street, she was watching them when the loud, thundering sound of hooves on the cobblestone street made her look up along with Jerbo.

Only maybe fifty yards away, a horse suddenly rounded the corner and was racing down the street in loud, slapping hoof beats, its rider urging it on forward, faster and faster, showing no signs of stopping even as one of the witchlings ran out into the middle of the street, chasing after the ball.

Luz reacted more on instinct than anything else as she darted out into the street. The child didn't even have time to look up as she barreled into him, sending them both tumbling against the hard, stone path just as the horse frantically galloped past, never slowing.

She grimaced as they rolled to a stop on the other side of the street. The child wrapped in her arms was shaking and Luz groaned as she let him go and pushed herself up, the cobblestone biting into her knees as she looked at the terrified kid.

“Are you okay?” she asked and after a second, he nodded, albeit a little shakily. “Good…” She patted his head and climbed to her feet, patting away the dust and dirt from her tumble.

“Luz!” She turned around just in time to see Amity and Jerbo come running across the street toward her.

“Are you alright?” She lifted her hands about to reach out when she seemed to think better of it and pulled them back. Luz smiled at her, but the flash of pain behind her eyes was apparent to the witch, who frowned, drawing her bottom lip between her teeth worriedly.

“I’m fine, just a few scrapes at worst,” she assured her with a smile that Amity could tell did not meet her eyes and her chest tightened at the sight of it. When was the last time she had seen the knight’s free and easy smile in earnest? Over a week; much too long in truth.

“Are you sure?” Jerbo asked as he looked her over and aside from some spots of dirt and a few scrapes on her arms and hands she looked unscathed. Luz nodded.

Amity knelt down to examine the witchling and Luz happened to catch a flash of red and looked up to find Boscha giving her a sharp, narrow-eyed look from the other side of the street. Their eyes locked and Luz felt the familiar thrum of anger shoot up her spin as the other witch-knight stare back at her, lips twisted up in a sneer.

The boy ran off and Amity stood, cutting off her stare down with the other witch over her shoulder.

“He’s fine… that was reckless, Luz.” She scolded and Luz frowned till Amity sighed, leveling a fond look on her “… but selfless as well,” she mumbled the last bit under her breath, well aware of her intended watching from the other side of the street, but the look on her face spoke volumes to Luz anyway. Jerbo tactfully kept his eyes on Luz, if anyone asked him, he knew and saw nothing.

Though, after a long moment of the two looking at each other in a very questioning way, Jerbo cleared his throat and Amity jolted, face turning pink to the tips of her ears before she quickly turned away, back toward the street where Boscha was till watching them with a twisted up scowl, arms crossed over her chest.

“We had best head back to the manor before dinner time, I still have details for… tomorrow night to work out,” Amity mumbled before quickly crossing the street, back to her waiting intended, who shot her a look but Amity turned her nose up at her, avoiding her eyes as she moved back toward the manor. The red-head glowered at the back of her head as she trailed along behind her.

“Sure you’re okay?” Jerbo asked and Luz nodded before they moved to follow the two back to Blight manor.

“Peachy,” Luz grumbled under her breath.

~ ~  
Luz hated everything about this.

Not just the ‘love of her life officially being engaged to someone else’ bit, but having to help organize it as well.

This was the only time she had ever been on duty inside the manor, several of them were stationed around the great, cavernous ballroom at present. She looked around at the walls bedecked in great, gaudy garland of dark forest green, and a dark almost burgundy magenta. Much darker than the shade Amity preferred to wear. The room was lit brightly with the floating sconces that hung in the air, their magical flame flickering quietly as they lit the room in bright flares that bounced off the array of finery that filled the room and adorned the many guests that milled about, talking boisterously to one another.

All around her the party was beginning in earnest as Lord and Lady Blight’s guests began to arrive at the manor, dressed in their finest attire and decked in heavy gold, silver, and a rainbow array of jewels, as one might expect from the richest people on the Isles. They passed her by without a glance, she may as well have been invisible to all the nobles as they ate and drank, talking much too loudly to each other. They didn’t only dress loudly, they had to be the loudest in every other way as well. Some seemed to literally be trying to be the loudest voice in the room as they talked over each other and Luz rolled her eyes to herself at them. It wasn’t enough to be the richest, everyone had to know it and pay attention to them always, as though it all might disappear if they stopped commanding the attention of the unwashed masses and their peers for even a moment.

Luz glanced around, bored, she couldn’t wait for this night to be over. That being said, it was only just beginning and she could already tell it was going to be a long one. She had yet to see Amity, but Edric and Emira had both been making rounds and gave her little waves or winks when they had passed her, which did lift her mood a little, though only a little.

She rocked back and forth on her feet thoughtfully, tomorrow was her off day and she planned on being anywhere but Blight manor. She felt like she was suffocating under all the wedding talk. She still hadn’t had a chance to even tell Gus and Willow, she’d like to sit down at some point and talk to Eda as well, maybe her old mentor would be able to give her some ideas on what she should do. She couldn't just do nothing and let Amity be forced into marriage, any marriage, much less one to someone like Boscha Arrogán, who barely treated Amity any better than she treated the guards or anyone else he viewed as beneath her.

She let out a loud, frustrated sigh from her place by the wall, away from most of the guests.

“Not enjoying the party I take it?” A smooth, quiet voice broke her out of her depressed thoughts and she looked up to find the raven knight standing nearby, drink in hands and looking at her with sharp, knowing eyes.

Luz's hand tightened on the shaft of her pike, face screwing up sourly and Lilith hummed in agreement.

"I had always hoped Amity would be spared of this when Lord and Lady Blight allowed her to choose for herself whom she wanted to court… it appears they grew tired of waiting for her to make a decision," she hummed, looking around the room at all the nobles.

"Would it make a difference if she told them about…," Luz stopped herself short, aware of all the ears and the big mouths they were attached to standing in close proximity.

"No" Lilith shook her head. "They might have allowed her to choose, but it was always an unspoken rule that it be from a certain pool of candidates. Ones of noble lineage with something to offer the Blights. Anyone without such would never be considered, so do not beat yourself up over that." She glanced at Luz meaningfully. "Then of course there is the matter of another type of lineage…" Her sharp eyes were drawn to Luz's ears and the knight scowled.

Before Lilith could say anything a commotion made them both look and Luz frowned as Amity and Boscha appeared, linked arm and arm at the ballroom's main entrance. Her stomach twisted into knots at the sight and she felt ill.

She did her best not to look at Boscha at all and focus only on the green-haired witch she loved so much; that wasn't hard to do.

The dress draped over her form was nothing like the large, puffy monstrosities she was used to seeing Amity in to hide her training clothes. It was long and smooth in that bright, eye-catching shade of magenta she loved to wear along with a long gold sash tied around her waist. What really grabbed the knight's attention was her hair. Amity's previously short length hair that had brushed her shoulders now draped between her shoulder blades in long, smooth strands except the sides, pulled back like usual. It had to have been magic, considering she had seen Amity only just last night.

She looked ethereal in the flickering lights and Luz felt her mouth go dry, but her awe was short-lived as she watched the way the witch moved on her intended’s arm. Her back was ramrod straight, though there was nothing unusual about that, the tense set of her shoulders and the look on her face told Luz everything she needed to know about how her love was currently fairing as she moved through the crowd of guests all tripping over themselves and each other to congratulate the two on their match. Boscha smiled that haughty, above it all smile as they moved along. Amity smiled politely and thanked them as Lord and Lady Blight watched from the other end of the ballroom, but Luz could see the dull look in her normally bright, gold eyes and frowned.

"Amity hates her and this…," she grumbled and Lilith sighed through her nose.

"That much is obvious to anyone who cares to pay enough attention,” she agreed before taking another long drink from her goblet in hand. She turned her eyes back to Luz. “I know it’s difficult, but try to bear it for tonight,” Those were the other knight’s parting words before she disappeared into the crowd of witches.

Luz didn’t know what other choice she had really

Several hours after the party had started, she was still stewing as she watched the snobby, redheaded knight dance with her lover for the third time that evening.

After the music and faded away Amity broke off from Boscha, saying something that Luz was too far away to hear but the witch looked annoyed and tried to grab her hand but Amity was quick to yank it away and turn, walking quickly off the dance floor and out of the ballrooms main entrance.

Luz perked up and glanced around. Seeing that no one was even looking at her, she quickly and quietly followed Amity out.

She glanced down the hall in time to see the noble move quickly through the main foyer and out the manor's front doors.

Luz quickly and quietly jogged after her. one of the nice things about being considered a servant was that no one paid her any mind unless they wanted something, not that there was anyone in the dim deserted room to see her anyway.

She poked her head out the door in time to see Amity disappear down the path that led away from the manor and toward her favorite spot on the grounds.

The pond; where she'd like to go and think.

She let the witch get out of sight, she knew where she was going. When she rounded the corner she laid her pike against the wall and moved quietly across the grounds.

The night was clear and cold, her breath coming out in thick white clouds. A bright, full moon shown overhead, casting an almost violet light on everything around her. Amity was easy to spot as she stood beside the water gazing down into it.

“You’re going to get cold out here,” Luz’s voice rang out through the still air, making Amity jump and turn, but she relaxed the moment her eyes landed on Luz.

“Anything is better than in there… I just needed a moment to… rest before I have to go back and play pretend for the remainder of the evening,” she sighed and Luz frowned as she stopped at her side, drawing Amity’s eyes. “What are you doing out here, shouldn’t you be on duty?” she turned to face her and Luz shrugged.

“Probably, but I saw you leave and I wanted to check on you,” she explained, reaching up to lay a hand on Amity’s cheek. Amity hesitated a moment but covered Luz’s hand with one of her own and turned into the touch.

“I just want this to be over and for her to be gone,” she grumbled against Luz’s palm. The knight hummed as she wrapped her other arm around the witch’s waist and pulled her in close. Amity did not resist, in her tall shoes, she stood nearly eye to eye with Luz but tucked herself securely beneath the knight’s chin anyway, burying her face in her throat.

“I know…” Luz murmured, squeezing her close in the quiet darkness, illuminated only by the moon as she rubbed a hand up and down her back comfortingly. The distant sounds of music from within the manor reached them, a soft, lilting melody that they could only barely hear. “Hey… dance with me.” Luz pulled back just enough to look into Amity’s eyes.

“What?” she couldn’t help the laugh that lilted on the words at the suggestion.

“Dance with me,” the knight repeated, stepping back as to wrap one arm around the witch’s waist and entwine the fingers of her left hand with Amity’s right.

“You’re ridiculous,” Amity huffed, but the smile pulling at her lips as her left hand pressed between Luz’s shoulders told a different story.

“Maybe, but you love me.” The knight grinned and Amity smiled at her.

“I do love you,” she agreed quietly as they swayed across the grass to the distant music that they could only just hear, but even if they had no music at all, it would still have been perfect.

Luz hummed in tune with the quiet music as she pulled Amity in closer and she, in turn, laid her head on her shoulder. Even from this angle she could see the happy twitching in her ears that told her Amity was truly happy and it made all the tension that had been building in her all night bleed out as though it had never been at all. Several songs came and went as they held each other tight, soaking up the other’s warmth and keeping the bitter chill at bay. Their hands and faces were flushed red from the cold but neither showed any sign of letting go or stopping.

Luz never wanted this to end, never wanted to be apart from Amity, much less to have to watch her marry someone else. She held her all the tighter and an idea popped into her mind that she didn’t even need to consider.

“Runaway with me.”

Amity jerked back to look up at her with wide, golden eyes as she stared into Luz’s, lit up with moonlight.

“W-what?” she blinked at her, perhaps she had heard her wrong.

“Runaway with me, Amity.” Luz insisted, pulling back to take hold of both her hands. “We’re not going to be able to break your engagement and I can’t challenge her, but we can leave, and make our own way in any town or village on the isles, I can still take jobs and you're amazing with magic and we can continue your sword training... we could do it together!” she squeezed her hands.

“Luz…”

“I know it wouldn’t be as nice or easy a life as you’re used to, but we’d have each other, and you could finally do and go where you like when you like, I’ll take you anywhere you want!” she was rambling now, thinking of all the reasons this was actually probably the best idea she had ever had.

The next thing she knew, the noble’s lips were slotted firmly across hers, stopping her verbal spewing as Amity’s arms wrapped around her neck. Luz dug her fingers into the magenta fabric at her hips, holding her closer. Finally, she released her, leaning back just enough to look into her eyes.

“Yes…,” Amity mumbled.

Luz blinked.

“Yes?” she repeated, voice filled with all the awe she felt.

“Yes, take me away from here…” she squeezed her tighter.

“O-okay!” Luz nodded. “First thing in the morning I’ll…”

“No,” Amity cut her off, shaking her head. “Now, right now, I want away from here. From Boscha, from my parents and everything that comes with it!”

“What about your things? There’s nothing you want to take with you or say goodby to Ed and Em?” she asked but Amity was shaking her head vigorously.

“My brother and sister will understand, I’ll send word to them whenever we get where we’re going. The only thing I need is you.” Her voice was a whisper of breath that ghosted across Luz’s lips.

“Okay....” she stepped back and wrapped a hand around one of Amity’s and then they were running across the grounds toward the stables. Exhilaration coursing through them as they hurried inside. King looked up as they entered.

“Time to finally go, Buddy!” Luz grinned at him as she and Amity quickly began throwing the knight’s things into a sack and loading them up into Singe’s saddlebags. The demon wolf jumped up, dancing around them excitedly, catching their excitement. Once everything was haphazardly tied down, Luz climbed up into the saddle and reached down to haul Amity up beside her. The witch giggled madly as she was situated in place behind Luz; they grinned at each other.

“Let’s go!” Luz spurred the horse forward at a quick trot out of the stables, Amity held onto her waist tightly as they moved across the grounds.

They turned the corner of the manor to the gate and Luz had to yank back on the reins as several pikes were all pointed in their direction. They slid to a halt in front of several guards as well as Boscha and Lord and Lady Blight.

“As I said, the human is trying to abscond with her!” Boscha pointed an accusing finger at Luz as the two stared back in shock, but Amity was the first to come out of it.

“No one is absconding with me!” she snapped, “I went with her of my own accord!”

“Amity!” Alador’s voice thundered loudly, making several of those in attendance flinch. “What is the meaning of this!?” He demanded. Amity recoiled at the tone but was quick to shake it off. This was one of the reasons she so badly wanted to leave.

“We’ve been courting for months…I’m in love with her,” Amity said, staring back into her father's identical golden irises that narrowed, face twisting with barely concealed rage at her words.

“A human?” Her mother’s voice carried every once of disgust and incredulity she could muster. “A human on our staff?”

“I and Sir Bump will speak of that later, for now, this nonsense will come to an end, retrieve my daughter!” he ordered and several of the guards moved forward to yank Amity off the horse,

“Hey...!” Luz snarled, reaching for her sword but a pike pressed closer to her throat, making her still. King growled and snarled low in his throat, hunkering down, about to pounce when Luz called him off.

“No, King…” she managed to spit out as the pike pressed closer to her throat, barely able to keep Singe calm as all the people gathered around pressed in closer. The demon wolf continued to growl, especially as Amity was pulled from the horse, struggling every inch of the way. She shouted and kneed one guard in the groin and elbowed another in the face as they wrestled her down.

“Take her inside!” Alador snapped, still watching Luz as she glared back at him definitely.

“Luz!” Amity shouted as they dragged her inside. Luz jerked, only for the tip of a pike to stop her short again.

“As for you… I should have you killed, but it would bring more trouble than it’s worth, so you will go, and forfeit whatever payment you had left to you and leave, I’m sure my daughter has already given you plenty…” His gold eyes narrowed at her. She sneered in response but had no choice but to pull back on the reins, backing Singe up and toward the gates as the other guards moved in closer with their pikes, forcing her back before finally turning and fleeing with King running along behind her.

The gates slammed shut behind her.

Amity stumbled as the guards shoved her into her room, slamming the door shut behind her.

An angry, frustrated noise tore from her throat as she righted herself and turned to slam a fist against the wood, but the oak did not budge and only made her first throb.

“Shit!” she yelled, holding the throbbing fist to her chest as tears began to burn at her eyes, but they had nothing to do with the pain shooting through her fingers.

“Damn it all!” she paced around her room for a few minutes before finally sitting heavily on her bed, holding her throbbing hand in the other.

Everything had fallen to pieces in the matter of one night. More so than it already had been anyway. Now her parents knew about her love affair and worse yet; Luz was gone.

She didn’t even realize tears were dripping down her cheeks until she saw them splatter against the floor at her feet.

“Luz…,” she whimpered.

Her bedroom door opened and she looked up only to scowl at the person walking into her room.

“What the hell do you want? Get out!” she snapped as Boscha walked in, closing the door behind her.

The redhead sneered at her.

“Don’t get snappy with me, Blight,” Boscha growled. “You're the one that made this difficult.” she stalked closer to Amity, till she was looming over her from her place on the bed. “You think I didn’t already know about you and the human?” she asked and Amity jolted, making Boscha scoff as she saw the look of surprise bloom on her face. “Anyone with half a brain can see the way you two look at each other, you aren’t subtle in the least,” she sniffed.

“So what? You were just waiting to get rid of Luz?!” she snarled.

“Don’t flatter yourself,” Boscha loomed over her, lips curled up. “You aren’t that special,” she hissed. Amity sucked in a sharp breath as white-hot anger flared up in her chest. And her hand slipped beneath her pillow, fingers wrapping around a solid hilt and in the blink of an eye her hand whipped up and Boscha reeled back, letting out a pained yelp as a sharp, blade cut across her face in a silver flash. Crimson dripped down the knight’s face. Amity was off the bed in a shot, the same dagger from when she had been attacked in the market months ago held tight in her hand.

She didn’t even think about it as she aimed to plunge the dagger straight into the arrogant knight's heart, but she was much quicker to recover than Amity had anticipated and an iron grip wrapped around her wrist, and the next thing she knew her back was slammed against the wall, knocking all the air from her lungs.

Amity gasped as she came face to face with an enraged Boscha, lips pulled back over her teeth in a snarl and face only a few inches from Amity’s. Blood dripped across the bridge of her nose and down her cheek where it was dripping off the end of her chin onto the floor.

“Listen to me, bitch!” she barked, her grip on Amity’s wrist becoming tight enough to make the other noble grit her teeth, but she would not cry out and give Boscha the satisfaction. “You think I want to marry you?” she asked lowly as they glared at each other, the moonlight streaming in through the window’s open curtain flickered off their eyes. “This is a business deal and nothing more. Combining our families in marriage will make us the most powerful people on the Isles after the emperor himself, and you’re hardly my first choice, but you’ll do. I would have let you have your little love affair with that disgusting human,” she bit out and Amity’s eyes widened as Boscha leaned in closer. “But now, you’ve embarrassed me by trying to run off with her at our engagement party, in front of all the Isles elite…,” her grip on Amity continued to tighten to blinding pain, ripping a pained sound from her throat involuntarily. “...So now, you get no human and you won’t be leaving the manor grounds till after we’re married, so I can keep an eye on you.” She pulled back, wrenching the dagger from Amity’s grip as she did.

The witch hissed, holding her red and bruised wrist as she glared at Boscha with every ounce of hatred she could muster in her body.

“Your father agrees,” she turned and walked over to the door, stopping in the open doorway to look at the crying witch from over her shoulder. “You brought this on yourself.” With that, she left, closing the door hard behind her.

Amity glared at the door as tears continued to fall.


	22. Chapter 22

Luz laid flat on her back staring up at the ceiling of the room in the inn. She hadn’t moved since she had arrived late in the night two days ago. Eda hadn’t even asked her what was wrong when she arrived, only taken one look at her red, tear-stained face and stepped aside to let the other knight in. Luz was quick to wrap her up in a tight, bone-crushing hug. The human had buried her face into the older knight’s shoulder and cried for at least an hour before Eda had guided her to the other bed and laid her down, where she had stayed the rest of the night. 

She had slept precious little and spent a lot of time merely staring up at the ceiling tiredly and it was incredibly worrying. King laid his head across her lap and whimpered occasionally but Luz couldn’t even find the strength to pet him and after a while, he had moved over to Eda’s bed. She scratched his ears comfortingly as she eyed her former apprentice worryingly. Luz had always been an energetic ball of sunshine with a mouth that ran faster than she could ever since Eda had met her. Well, except for the short period just after they had met. Actually, the way she was acting right now reminded Eda of that brief couple of weeks, as Luz was growing accustomed to being out on the road with her.

She had been quiet and withdrawn at first, rarely speaking and never making eye contact. She’d never forget the first time they had met and the circumstances that had led to the human girl becoming her apprentice. 

_It had been like any other village deep within the mainland of the Boiling Isles. Suckers on every corner and no shortage of jobs to take and coin to make. Eda moved along with King at her side, whistling to herself as she looked around the village square, eyes on the hunt for anything that could potentially make her money. Monsters, thieves, little old ladies needing help carrying their bags back from the market. Eda had always been a jack of all trades, it was one of the things that made her so well known, there was no job the Owl knight wouldn’t take. When she had first started out it had been more a necessity than anything but had become part of her calling card over time._

_Unless it was something completely stupid, like a solo dragon hunt. She was well equipped for all manner of monsters and beasts; but not that._

_They passed through the village's meager market and she looked over their wares with a critical eye but saw nothing of any real interest, junk really._

_“I think this town’s a bust, King,” the knight grumbled to herself as they walked. It had been about a week since their last job and while she had plenty of coin left, she still didn’t like to let it run too low._

_She tapped a finger against her chin thoughtfully as they walked past an alley. She might not have ever even stopped had a sudden loud cry brought her to a halt and turned toward the source of the noise._

_Peering down the shadowed passage, she could see several figures all standing around in a circle as they kicked at something, laughing and yelling as they did. Eda’s eyes narrowed as she peered at the small form among them._

_“I half expected it to not bleed at all!” one of them shouted and another loud cry came from the center of the circle._

_They were beating on someone, a child by the size of the curled up lump laying on the ground as they kicked at it._

_She frowned. Beating up on grown witches? Sure, she did it all the time! A group of grown witches beating a child? She’s done some shady things in her time, but even Eda had her uncrossable lines._

_“Hey!” she shouted quickly making her way down the alley with King in tow, lips pulling back over his pearly white fangs and a deep menacing growl already vibrating out of his throat. The kicking stopped as they all turned to look at her as they approached. “Leave the kid alone,” She warned, her own lips pulling back over her flat teeth, all except the sharp golden one that poked out over her lip._

_“What, you a human lover?” one of the witches spat at her feet as they all turned to her, bowed up. Human-shmoman, Eda wasn’t gonna let five grown witches beat up on a kid. Stealing from them? Sure, but they never got hurt from that._

_“Get out of here.” Eda scowled at them and predictably they stepped forward, looking ready to fight. She sniffed and drew her sword as King’s growling picked up pace and echoed through the alley as she pressed a hand to her blade and fire erupted across it, making them jump._

_“She’s a knight,” one of them whispered quietly and she grinned, firelight flickering in the dim light, casting menacing, dark shadows across the sharp planes of her face as she grinned wickedly at them._

_“Still wanna go?” she taunted, waving the blade in front of her, a trail of fire following its slow arcing movements._

_The frontman scoffed._

_“Whatever, take her!” He spit on the ground at the Owls knight’s feet before they turned and all headed out of the alley’s opposite end before they vanished from sight. Eda frowned and sheathed her blade once she was certain they wouldn’t come back and try to take her from behind, not that they really wanted to do that with King guarding it._

_She walked over to the curled up lump still laying on the ground of the dirty alley and knelt down._

_It was definitely a kid and a bloody, beaten, and trembling one at that. They were curled up into a tight ball in the dirt._

_She could only just see the edges of the kid’s ears and by the rounded appendages, she knew the kid was definitely human._

_“Hey,” she called gently, “They're gone now, Kid. You can get up.” she hesitated to reach out and touch the shaking child, but blood was dripping from somewhere and she wasn’t sure from where and would need a better look, but the kid was curled up so tight she wasn’t even sure how she was getting air. She frowned and reached out a gentle hand, touching her back. She visibly jumped under her touch and Eda jerked her hand back, but the kid did nothing else, as though she were expecting a much rougher touch next and Eda frowned and hummed to herself._

_Before she could do anything King had padded forward, sniffing the air around her curiously._

_“King…,” The knight hissed as he pressed closer till he was sniffing around the kid's hair, making it flutter beneath his breaths. His cold nose pressed to her rounded ear and she jerked, head-turning ever so slightly so that a dark, brown eye peeked out from her curled up arms. Eda froze, watching silently as King continued to sniffle at the girl and after a few long minutes, her head came up out of her knees to look at the demon wolf as he flopped down beside her. He leaned forward and slapped a long lick across her face._

_She drew back again but only for a minute before slowly unwinding when King poked her with his nose again. Eda sat back on her heels, watching the two silently, till eventually after about ten minutes, she uncurled enough that Eda could see her now. She’d never seen a human before, but she’d heard enough to know that this was definitely one; the rounded ears gave her away if nothing else._

_She reached out a trembling hand and King sat still as she ran her fingers over his muzzle._

_“You’re bleeding, Kid,” Eda spoke quietly, but she still gave a little start, brown eyes swiveling to her. Finally, she scrambled up to sit against the wall, away from Eda, with her knees curled up to her chin. She wasn’t very old, maybe ten if Eda had to guess, not that she knew a whole lot about witchlings, much less human witchlings._

_King seemed interested though and followed her to the wall, staying low, and when he leaned in again the girl reached out a hesitant hand before she started to pet him. Eventually, he laid down, head across her legs as Eda looked her over from a distance._

_Her face was covered in little cuts, blood, and dirt, brown eyes kept downcast, though she could see them occasionally flicker to her as if checking that she was still sitting far enough away. She was thin, skin pulled tight over bones and cheeks slightly gaunt. Eda hummed and reached into her bag._

_The kid jerked and she held up a hand._

_“It’s okay…” she tried to calm, but the girl stayed tense, fingers digging into King’s fur as he laid across her lap, unbothered. She reached into her bag and rooted around before her fingers wrapped around what she was looking for and pulled it out._

_The girl's eyes lit with rapt interest as Eda held out the hunk of bread._

_“Here, Kid.” she held it out and the human stared at it, eyes flickering up to Eda and back down to the bread a few times before her hand shot out and snatched it, immediately shoving it into her mouth so fast the knight was afraid she was going to choke herself to death “Slow, down, it’s not gonna go anywhere…” Despite the words, she still shoved it into her mouth and chewed like a starved animal, which for all intents and purposes, she looked like it._

_When it was gone she pulled out another piece and she didn’t hesitate to take it this time, eating it at the same ravenous pace as the other. When it too was gone she seemed a little less skittish._

_“What’s your name, Kid?” The knight asked, cocking her head as she peered at the girl._

_She glanced around nervously before looking back at Eda._

_“Luz…," she murmured._

_“Where’s your parent, Luz?” she asked and the girl visibly tensed, fingers tightening on King’s fur._

_“Gone…” she mumbled, making the knight frown._

_An orphan then, not unusual for most villages. They ran underfoot in every town and village Eda had ever been to. Such was the way of things, though they generally ran in packs and looked after each other as best they could. It was strange to find one by themselves, and being beaten bloody by a group of adult witches._

_“What was that about?” She jerked her head in the direction the five had vanished in and Luz’s shoulders sucked up to her ears as she continued to stare down at King, running her dirty, scarred hands through his black fur._

_“They don’t like me…,” was the quiet reply, Eda only continued to frown at that._

_“How come?” she asked and Luz seemed to hunker down farther._

_“I’m human…” was the soft, timid reply._

_Eda made a sound in her throat. It was obvious from looking at the girl she had been out here taking beatings for a while._

_“Why don’t I take you to the orphanage?” she could barely finish the question before Luz yelped._

_“No!” she finally made full eye contact with the witch, who jerked back at the sudden shout. Luz seemed to realize what she had done and shrunk back. “Please, no…” she whispered._

_The outburst had surprised her, but Eda was quickly picking up on why that might have been with the way the girl’s eyes flickered about nervously._

_“Do they treat you like that at the orphanage?” she finally asked and Luz nodded after a long moment. Eda’s jaw clenched. The kid continued to pet King as she thought._

_It was a terrible idea really, but she just couldn’t bring herself to leave the kid here by herself, not like this, but more than that, something was pulling Eda to the kid. She didn’t know if it was pity or what, but she hadn’t gotten this far in life by ignoring her instincts. She sighed, drawing the girl's attention, though she still only looked at her from beneath her long, dirty bangs,_

_“Me and this furry pain in the butt were just about to get out of this village, why don’t you come with us?” The kid did look up at that. “Maybe we can find you somewhere else to go.” she shrugged, but Luz did not seem convinced. “We’ll get you some more food too,” she offered._

_In the end, it was the promise of food that had gotten Luz to tentatively follow the knight out of the village._

_One town had become two, then three, and then they weren’t even pretending to look anymore. Luz was just another member of her little band of wanderers, and after seeing Eda in her first fight, had begged the knight to teach her._

_Three hours of begging later, she reluctantly agreed. The rest had been history._

The Owl knight would never admit it aloud, but Luz had become like her own kid, and to see her in such a state of distress was hard for her too. 

Eda was lost in thought when Luz sighed loudly to herself, the first real sound she had made in two days, making Eda lookup.

“How ya doing, Kid?” she asked. Luz turned her head to look at her, frowning. 

“Not great…,” she mumbled, finally, slowly sitting up to throw her legs over the side of the bed where she sat, slumped over. Her whole body felt heavy and exhausted. 

“You wanna tell me what happened now?” Eda asked her carefully. Luz sighed again before launching into her tale, by the end of which, Eda was scowling mightily.

“Damn, bastard nobles!” she spat venomously. Luz frowned, watching her mentor. “This is why I left all this shit behind, Lilith can play their games, I never had the stomach for it,” she grumbled. KIig moved to sit at Luz’s feet and she scratched his ears sadly.

“What am I going to do?” she finally asked, drawing the irate knight’s attention. Eda frowned, tapping her fingers on her knee thoughtfully. 

“I dunno, Kid. It’s a tricky situation you got yourself all mixed up in. Technically, she belongs to Arrogán now since her parents accepted the money and no matter how much money you might have, or could get, I doubt they’d sell her to you…” 

“She’s not something that can be bought!” Luz snapped, jumping up. “She’s a person and…” She seemed to lose steam as Eda gazed back at her with a knowing frown. 

“And you love her, but that’s how nobility works, Luz, trust me, I know.” 

“I have to do something!” she barked as she began to pace around the room angrily, muttering under her breath as she did. “Break her out of the manor or something?” Eda watched her with a frown.

“Look, this is all a bunch of crap, no arguments there, but I know you, Luz and you can’t just go jumping into this with no plan. You’ll get yourself killed and it will be justified on their part for trying to kidnap a noble.” The Owl knight quickly derailed that plan before it could pick up any steam. 

“Then what do I do!” Luz threw up her hands. “I can’t just let her be forced to marry that three-eyed…!”

“Relax, Luz. We’ll think of something.” Eda stood and slapped her hands on the younger knight's shoulders. “Let me talk to Lily and see what’s going on at Blight prison and we’ll come up with something from there, alright?” she asked as Luz seemed to slump under her touch.

“What do I do until then?” she grumbled and Eda reached up to ruffle her hair.

“First, eat something, then go see your friends. They’re probably gonna want to know what happened,” she advised. 

“Yeah… alright.” She nodded and gathered her things before heading out with King on her heels. Eda hummed to herself as she watched her go. She’d need to go see her sister soon before Luz did something dumb.

Luz walked through town quickly, eager to get to the apothecary and see Willow. The witch had a soothing way about her that Luz could really use right now.

Her chest ached. All she could think about was Amity and the look on her face as they had dragged her off the horse and back into the manor, while she had been powerless to do anything but flee; she’d let her down. That more than anything else dug at her heart, that Amity was now locked up inside Blight manor with her parents and a betrothed that she couldn't stand. Luz grit her teeth at the thought of it all. Maybe if she had only acted sooner they could have been well and away from Bonesborough by now, on their way to making a life for themselves elsewhere; the two of them together.

Instead, they were separated, Amity held against her will and her barred from the manor grounds with no conceivable way of getting in or getting her out. She was familiar enough with the estate's grounds and their security to know there was no way for her to get in without having someone to help her from the inside.

Everything just felt so bleak to her at the moment. She couldn't imagine how Amity felt and it hurt her to try.

She sighed and shook her head, trying to dispel the negative thoughts. She would do something, she had to; it just couldn't be right this moment. So, worrying about it wouldn't get her anywhere. She carried on down the road through town toward the apothecary.

The way to the shop passed through the main market district of town and she was quickly coming up on the blacksmiths. She should stop in and see Viney. Anything was a welcome distraction right now.

As she approached she quickly recognized the figures standing out front of the forge and ran toward them.

"Emira, Jerbo!" she yelled, making both of the witches and Viney look at her.

"Luz!" 

"What are you doing here?" She looked between the guard and the noble.

"I was just picking up some things from Viney…," she hedged, a pale pink dusted her cheeks but she quickly shook it off and turned her attention fully to the knight.

"Are you alright? we heard about what happened the other night, it's all the servants are talking about, though not in front of us," Emira asked, frowning and Luz's jaw clenched, but she nodded.

"I'm fine, how's Amity?" she asked and the way Emira's gaze skittered away did not inspire confidence in the wolf knight.

"Physically… she's okay…," she mumbled, and the knots that had been sitting in Luz's stomach since the other night only tightened. "She's been confined to the manor until the wedding…," the noble sighed and Luz cursed vehemently to herself at that.

"It all sounds like a real shit show…" Viney crossed her arms over her chest as she shook her head. 

"There's got to be away for me to get her out…" Luz chewed her bottom lip. 

"I wouldn't count on it," Jerbo told her. "They've increased the number of guards on patrol at all times, there's not a single-blind spot you could possibly come in from." 

"They're afraid that she's going to try to escape again." Emira rubbed her temple tiredly. "The only people even allowed to see her outside of our parents and Boscha are Edric, Lilith, and I," she told the knight.

Luz sighed angrily. Of course, they were going to do everything in their power to keep her in their sights and away from Luz.

"Edric and I aren't even allowed to be out very long now. I volunteered to pick something up for Lady Lilith just so I could get out of there, it's been constant yelling and fighting ever since that night. Amity is just staying locked in her room refusing to eat now, they've been trying to force her and she refuses..." Emira's fists clenched tightly at her side.

"Damnit…" Luz ran a hand through her hair.

"I'm sorry, Luz… but I have to go…," Emira said, starting to step away, but Luz stopped her.

"Wait, when you see her, tell her to please eat, for me… and that I love her and I'm going to think of something," she said, face set with stony determination, and Emira nodded. 

"I can do that." She nodded before she turned away. Jerbo nodded to her then the two were walking off back through the market before they disappeared into the crowds. Once they vanished from sight Luz sighed heavily. It felt like she was doing that a lot lately.

"It's all a big mess isn't it?" Viney grumbled, scratching her head with a leather-clad hand.

"That's one way of putting it…," Luz said sourly. 

"Well, if there's anything I can do to help you out, let me know, Luz," the blacksmith offered and the knight nodded.

"Thanks, Viney. I don't know what I'm going to do yet. I can't let her marry Boscha!" she snapped.

"That one is a piece of work…" the smith nodded tiredly. "The only reason she's so gung ho about marrying Amity is the political power that comes along with it. The Blight's make their fortune from that abomination goop, and while abominations can be used for all kinds of things they're mostly used for fighting, access to that makes you powerful," Viney explained, cocking a hip. "Combine that with her own family's shipping power, they would be quite the power couple." she sniffed.

"But why Amity? Why not Edric or Emira? Not that I would want to push either of them into that either." 

"Ahh, probably cause Amity is the Blight heir," she hummed and caught the knight's confused look. "The twins got themselves disinherited like, four years ago for some stuff they did." The smith shrugged.

"How do you know all that?" Luz cocked her head and Viney chuckled.

“You hear things here and there,” she said cagily and winked at the knight, who only blinked back, confused. 

~ ~ 

The bedroom door slammed shut as Amity turned away yet another servant bearing food, sent by her parents.

She couldn't even think to eat right now, barely felt the hunger gnawing at her insides; the pain in her chest drowned it out.

She stalked back to her vanity and flopped onto the seat bonelessly as the anger bled out of her, replaced with the bottomless despair that had been eating at her for two days since she had been drug back to her room. Her confrontation with Boscha replayed in her mind several times since that night. 

_“I would have let you have your little love affair with that disgusting human”_

Amity scowled at her reflection in the vanity mirror. She didn’t know if that was true or not, but it didn’t matter. She didn’t want to be married to Boscha and Luz just to be her lover on the side. True enough, most nobles did it. She was sure the woman that worked as her father’s assistant was not just his assistant; she had no proof but she was fairly sure. 

No, she wanted to be with Luz, upfront and out loud. The knight deserved someone who could be proud to be with her, not someone’s secret affair for the rest of her life, and Amity wasn’t going to be the one who made it so. 

Her parents had come in the morning after her botched escape attempt to give her a dressing down of epic proportions about propriety and how she had embarrassed them in front of their peers, making a fool of herself and the family for her inappropriate relationship with Luz. Not only for being someone of peasant birth but a human, to make matters worse.

They were not impressed when she spat out that she didn’t care about how she made the family look, nor what they thought. She loved Luz and would gladly trade away her privileged noble life just to be with the knight.

All that had done was get two guards posted outside her door and the patrols around the grounds doubled to both keep her in and to keep the knight out, should she try to return.

Amity sighed, folding her arms across the vanity’s top, and laid her head down on them, eyes closed tight. 

Everything had turned into such a mess. She assumed Luz was in town, somewhere. She hoped she was alright, though she was sure that she was, Luz was strong and brave, sometimes Amity wondered if there was anything the human couldn’t do if she put her mind to it.

She hoped she would come for her, but she also hoped she would stay away, lest something actually bad happen to her. As strong as Luz was, she was no match for the whole guard staff, she would only serve to get herself killed and that thought tore at Amity’’s heart. As much as she wanted to be with Luz, she knew that there was no chance of that happening now that she had been confined to the manor till the day of her impending wedding. 

Not unless she could figure something to get out of it, though she had not the faintest clue what that thing would be right now. She wasn’t even allowed to wander around the manor grounds within the bounds of the stone wall. She could not leave the manor, period. She stayed locked in her room, refusing most servants and especially Boscha, who she hadn’t seen since the night everything had gone to hell, not that the other witch had tried to return anyway. If the red-headed witch was smart, she would stay as far away from Amity as possible. She may not have had her dagger anymore, but she wouldn’t hesitate to claw the other witch's eyes out if she put her hands on her again. 

She glanced down at the hand-shaped bruise that had turned an ugly dark blue across the pale skin of her wrist. Clear finger marks from where the witch knight had squeezed until it felt like her wrist was going to crack under the pressure and again she felt red hot anger well up in the pit of her stomach. To be treated like someone's possession, like a petulant child...

How she hated her, which was saying something. Amity could not think of one other person in her life that she hated as much as her forced intended, though her parent’s now stood on the same level. They had always been like this and in a way Amity had become resigned to that, she and the twins had mostly endeavored to stay out of their way unless they absolutely had to. It was made easier by the fact that most of the time Lord and Lady Blight forgot they even had children until it was convenient to them. 

Her hands curled into fists and she lifted her face from her arms and a flash of pink and white caught her attention, sitting on the vanity table. 

The seashell Luz had given her. 

She lifted her head from her arms and reached out to wrap her fingers over its smooth, gently ridged surface and pulled it to her. It was cool and soft in her hand. A balm on some of her pain while it simultaneously compounded it, a clear reminder of what had been so cruelly ripped from her life. 

She clutched it in her hand tightly. 

“Luz…,” she mumbled. 

A knock on her door made her shoot up and turn, already scowling and ready to tell yet another servant to get lost, but then the door opened and her sister poked her head in.

"Hey, can I come in?" she asked and Amity nodded.

"Of course." 

Emira stepped in and closed the door behind her. 

"How are you doing, still refusing to eat?" she asked, though she already knew the answer by the way Amity turned away from her.

Emira sighed and walked over to sit on the bed across from her sister, still situated at her vanity.

“I know you’re upset, but you need to eat…. and… Luz asked me to tell you to eat, for her if nothing else.” She smiled when, predictably, Amity whipped around to face her, eyes wide.

“You talked to Luz?!” she yelped and Emira chuckled.

“I did, I ran into her at the blacksmith's. She wanted me to tell you to eat… and that she loves you and is going to figure something out,” Emira delivered the message and watched as Amity bit her lip and clutched at something in her hands.

"I really hope she does…," she mumbled. "I miss her already, and I can't stand the idea of marrying that…" she scowled as she gestured to the door with a hand, just as another knock sounded, making the two of them jump.

"Yes?" Amity called with a frown.

The door opened and Lilith stepped inside. 

"Good afternoon, Amity, you as well, Emira." She nodded to the Blight sisters. 

"Lady Lilith." Emira nodded back to the older witch.

"I was hoping I might speak privately to your sister for a moment, the witch's sharp eyes fell on Emira, who nodded and stood from the bed.

"I'll be back later, Amity." Then she was gone quickly out the door, shutting it quietly behind her.

"What did you want to talk about?" Amity eyed her old teacher as she walked over and carefully arranged herself to sit on the side of the bed.

"I have a proposition for you," she said and Amity cocked a brow at that, a silent indication of her curiosity on what the older witch might have to say.

"Go on."

"How would you feel about continuing your sword training under me? In lieu of Luz's... temporary absence?" she asked carefully and watched Amity's eyes widened almost comically.

"I would love to…, but it would never be allowed…," she grumbled to herself bitterly.

"What if I were to tell you that I had already worked it out with your father?" Lilith challenged and Amity sat up straight at that.

"He allowed that?" She couldn't believe her ears as Lilith nodded.

"Yes, he agreed to allow me to teach you swordplay… so long as you eat and behave…" as soon as the words were out of her mouth, Amity jumped up.

"Behave!?" she snarled. "I am not a child and if he thinks this would get me to agree to quietly give my whole life to that three-eyed cretin, then he's a greater fool than I thought he was!" She all but shouted, not caring if anyone outside the door heard her or not.

"Amity," Lilith's smooth, controlled voice cut through her rant, quieting her.

"I know this is not an ideal situation, and how you care for Luz, but for the moment, there are a few other options available to you rather than to accept this offer or be denied the training and still be forced into compliance. At the very least, this way you get something you want." Lilith carefully reminded her of her current predicament, making her scowl dip into a frown.

The knight stood and took a step closer, speaking in low, hushed tones.

"I'm not saying by any means to accept this situation as it stands, but for the moment we have no other available recourse. You will need to be patient and compliant, and in the meantime, I will teach you."

Amity clenched her fists, the smooth seashell clutched in her right hand dug into her palm as she squeezed it.

as much as she hated it, the knight was right. All she was doing right now was sitting around her room being angry, if nothing else she could channel that into something constructive until she came up with a better solution.

She sighed, letting the tension bleed out of her frame.

"Okay, teach me," she said and Lilith nodded.

"Excellent, we will start first thing in the morning. I trust you already have all the necessary equipment provided by your paramour?" she asked, brow cocked. 

"I have training clothes, but my training blade was with Luz…," she trailed off and Lilith hummed.

"I'll get you one from the guard's barracks," she said and Amity nodded. "On another note, I'll be meeting my sister tomorrow afternoon at Hexside for our usual little get together, I'm sure she has already made contact with her former apprentice. So, if there's anything you would like me to deliver for you, get it to me by morning," with that, she turned and headed for the door.

"Lilith…," Amity called out to her, stopping the older witch at the door. She glanced at her student over her shoulder. "Thank you," she said quietly.

The knight nodded

"Of course, Amity." With that, she walked out, shutting the door quietly behind her, leaving Amity alone once more; shell still clutched in her hand.,


	23. Chapter 23

She huffed as sweat dripped down her brow multiple little rivulets that snaked across her skin, sliding from her forehead down to her cheeks, where it dripped off her chin into the dead, yellowed grass beneath her boots. The bitterly cold air pressed against her skin from every angle, chilling the water as it ran down her face. Her breath came out in heaving gulps as she leaned over, hands pressed into her knees, trying to calm her erratic heartbeat and get her breath under control. Fire flickered along the edge of her blade before it slowly petered out with a faint, warm, red glow, leaving the hot blade clenched in her grip and breath coming out in large, vaporous clouds.

“Have you finished already, Amity?” Lilith’s voice rang out through the still courtyard and she knew the other witch well enough to hear the mocking undertones in the words. She grunted and pushed herself back up to stand, taking up her stance again.

"Not even close," she growled.

A glint of approval shone in the raven knight’s eye as she held up her own blade and they began to circle each other once more, watching the other’s every moment with sharp eyes, waiting to spot the faintest twitch of muscles, signaling an attack. Amity sucked in slow deep breaths through her nose and exhaled billowing clouds through her mouth. Trying to get her breathing completely under control before the knight was upon her again.

Luz was strong, skilled, and had always been an attentive and patient teacher. Lilith was as well but she was also an exacting taskmaster, who gave no leeway and accepted no excuses. It was one of the things that made the two get along as well as they did in her academic studies and even more so in her physical ones.

That being said, one of them was much more demanding than the other in ways that Amity was unaccustomed to. Luz had pushed her, but never as relentlessly as Lilith did. 

She barely had time to finish that thought before Lilith was on her again. She could barely bring her blade up in time to block the quick downward strike from the other witch and when it landed, blade pressing against blade, it jarred her whole body. Much like Luz’s strikes, they were fast and solid, like getting in the way of a boulder rolling downhill. Lilith reached out and pressed two fingers to the blade still locked against Amity’s and it erupted once more into flames, making her jerk back as heat licked at her face from such a short distance. Amity jumped back, untangling their blades, and quickly pressed her other hand to her own blade, lightning quickly burst to life across the silver metal, jumping up and down the blade in brilliant, blinding arcs of deadly power.

This was one thing she and Luz had never done; trained with the magical aspects of fighting. Amity hadn’t found it fair at first before she had her glyphs engraved onto her blade, Luz had to draw them up herself, thus making them not very practical in a fight. Especially not against someone who had an innate talent for magic as she did. Once the alterations had been made to her sword, Luz still refused to use magic in sparring against her. She was afraid of accidentally hurting the witch, as she had yet to gain full mastery over her own brand of magic and, Amity could admit; was the far superior warrior. 

Lilith had no reservations about making her defend against her magic, leaving Amity little choice but to fight fire with fire, literally. 

She went on the offensive this time, lunging forward and bringing the blade down in a bright arc that the knight jumped out of the way of, but only just barely before making a counterstroke of her own that did not miss.

Amity stumbled back with a pained hiss, glancing down at her shoulder where a freshly cauterized cut burned into her skin. 

“You’re getting sloppy, I think this is a sufficient place to stop for today,” Lilith said as she sheathed her blade, the flames sizzling out as it slid into its sheath. 

“I can keep going…,” Amity hissed between her clenched teeth but Lilith shook her head.

“No, you’re talented with magic but you aren’t used to using up your stores like this for fighting, you’re only going to injure yourself if you push too hard too fast,” she said with a certain sense of finality that left no room for argument. It also sounded exactly like what Luz had told her when they first started training together. Amity scowled but knew better than to argue with the knight. She sheathed her own blade as Lilith walked over to inspect her wound. It was a graze at best but it burned terribly and Amity winced when the other witch pressed her fingers over it. There was a brief tingling sensation and a pale blue light as the other witch healed the burning wound. When she pulled her hand away the skin beneath the slit fabric was left unblemished and healed as though it had never been.

“Good as new,” Lilith hummed, pulling back and Amity nodded.

“You’re wasting your time.” a sudden voice made them both turn to look and Amity couldn’t stop the sneering, scowl that pulled at her lips as her eyes landed on Boscha, leaning against a pillar, arms crossed and a frown pulling at her lips. 

Amity’s initial reaction was to snap back something but before she could even open her mouth Lilith had turned to give the other knight a hard look.

“I will be the one to decide what is and is not worth my time, Lady Arrogán and I thank you too keep your opinions of my activities to yourself,” she said icily to the younger knight, whose face screwed up in scowl of her own as she glared back at Lilith and the two had a brief and intense staredown before the redhead scoffed and turned her gaze to Amity, who bristled under her three-eyed gaze. Everything about her betrothed set her on age, even just the mention of her name made her angry. Their only personal interaction even after two weeks was still the moment in her room after Luz had been banished from the manor grounds and she wanted to keep it that way if she could help it. She had no interest in even being in the same room as Boscha. 

“What exactly do you think you’re going to gain by this pointless training?” the knight asked her with a sneer that made the tight ball of hate in Amity’s stomach for the other woman curl all the tighter. Every day she spent separated from Luz and locked in the manor grounds, her resentment for the other noble only grew that much stronger. 

She wanted more than anything to spit out a sharp, hateful comment but she knew that it would get her nowhere. She had promised that she would ‘behave’, it was the only way to get her father to allow her to take the training with Lilith, which at the moment was the only freedom she was allowed from within her gilded cage. With great effort she merely turned away, refusing to look at or even speak to the other woman. She couldn’t say anything that might make it back to her father, so she would say nothing at all. It was abundantly clear to her that her parents didn’t care if she liked it, only that she complied with it. For now, she would, but she wouldn't stop trying to find a way out of it, a way to be with Luz again. She would content herself with completely ignoring the knight’s very existence for as long as she could till then. 

Boscha scoffed and stood away from the pillar.

“Waste your time then, it makes no difference to me,” she grunted and started to move back inside, clearly done wasting her own time with interrogating the two but before she could take more than a few steps, a servant appeared from the courtyard’s main doors and hurried up to her, giving a brief bow. 

“A missive for you, Lady Arrogán,” he said, holding out a folded and sealed piece of parchment to her, bearing the golden sigil of a sword and wings over a triangle: The seal of the Emperor. 

The knight took it and instead of quickly scurrying away the servant made his way over to Lilith and offered a second envelope to her.

“For you as well, Lady Clawthorne.” He held it out to her and she frowned as she took it. The last time she had been presented with a similar envelope it had been a missive stating that she was to leave the Isles and join the fighting across the sea. 

“A missive from the Emperor?” Amity looked at the parchment with wide eyes as Lilith frowned down at it as if it had personally wronged her. 

She ran a long nail beneath the seal, breaking it open and unfolding it. Her eyes ran quickly along the lines written across it and her mouth screwed up even further.

“What is it?” Amity asked, taking a step closer.

“The Emperor is throwing a ball at the end of the week and has invited me and a guest of my choosing,” she said, looking up at her pupil. 

“A ball?” Amity blinked at her and the knight nodded. 

“He’s done this before, if he’s throwing a ball to call together the nobility, it means he has an announcement to make.” She refolded the parchment and tucked it into her pocket. 

“What do you think he wants to announce?” Amity asked and Lilith hummed thoughtfully.

“I don’t know, I’ll simply have to attend if I wish to know.” 

“Which means you’ll be accompanying me,” Boscha’s voice suddenly ringing out through the courtyard made Amity grit her teeth, and reluctantly, she turned and faced her intended, who was still looming nearby, her own letter held in hand. 

“And why would I go with you?” It wasn’t her intention for venom to drip from every word but anytime she was forced to address the redhead she couldn't help the disdain that colored every word she was forced to utter in the other witch’s presence.

“I was invited, and as my betrothed, that means you go where I go, and where I tell you to,” she said with a certain bite that made the hairs on the back of Amity’s neck stand on end, ruffled like an angry cat at the way she was being commanded. Her jaw tensed, ready to deliver a cutting barb, but she caught sight of Lilith from the corner of her eye and bit down on her tongue to keep the words to herself. She settled for a hot glare. Boscha snorted before she turned and strutted inside without a second glance back at her, the door slamming shut behind her. Amity growled in her direction and Lilith set a gentle hand on her shoulder.

“Calm yourself, we will figure something out,” Lilith assured. “Speaking of such, I’m off to meet my sister and your paramour, is there anything you wish me to deliver?” she asked and Amity perked up, quickly putting Boscha out of her mind.

“Yes,” she nodded and reached into her pocket before pulling out a folded slip of paper. “If you wouldn’t mind…,” she trailed off just as Lilith plucked the piece of paper from her hand with a soft, knowing smile.

“I don’t.” she nodded, slipping it into her pocket with the invitation. 

“Thank you,” Amity mumbled quietly.

“Of course. Now, I must be going. You go and rest, we will continue this tomorrow. With that she turned and walked away, leaving Amity standing alone in the courtyard. 

~ ~ ~

Luz tapped her booted foot incessantly on the dry and dirty wood beneath her heels. Hexside was loud and rowdy as it always was. Drunkards sat at every table, drinking from long-necked bottles filled with dark amber liquid. They stumbled around half-cocked and looking to keep going, or even to fight, but Luz didn’t have time for that today and glowered at anyone who made eye contact with her for more than a few seconds. Even if they thought they could take the young human women, they quickly moved on when Eda shot them a look of her own. 

“Kid, you gotta relax.” The Owl knight rolled her eyes as she took another drink from her own bottle. It was only just late morning, but Luz wasn’t about to tell the older knight what to or not to drink. They had been down this road before. It was a fight Luz had never been able to win and she doubted she was going to start now. 

“I know, I know, I’m just excited is all…” She continued to tap her foot eagerly on the floor, her leg bouncing anxiously beneath the table. Eda hummed into her bottle as the table jiggled precariously under Luz’s anxious twitching. She wasn’t going to stop until Lilith arrived so she would just have to ignore it for now. 

Luckily she didn’t have to wait long, as five minutes later Lilith appeared from the crowd of drunkards, the hood of her cloak pulled up over her head, though the blindingly white and gold cloak was not the most inconspicuous piece of clothing in the place. 

“Took you long enough,” Eda grumbled, tipping her bottle back and emptying it as Lilith sat at the table across from them. She gave the Owl knight a tired look as she watched her slam back the rest of her drink and then toss the bottle over her shoulder, somewhere into the crowd. Lilith slapped a hand to her forehead as it crashed somewhere behind them in a shatter of glass and yelling. She only grinned at her sister as Luz sighed tiredly. Nothing about this was new to the youngest knight at the table 

“Edalyn…,” she sighed, dragging her hand down her face tiredly as she glared at her sister from between her fingers. 

“What?” she asked.

“You are a menace…,” Lilith grunted, making a face at her. Eda immediately sneered back.

“Do you have anything for me?” Luz jumped in before the two could get into it in earnest. It worked, and the sisters both turned to her, their argument petering out before it could even get started because once it did, it could potentially last for hours and Luz did not have the time nor patience for it today.

“Ah, yes.” Lilith nodded and dug through her pocket and pulled out a folded up piece of paper and handed it over to her. “From Amity.” she smiled at Luz as she snatched it up with a cheek-splitting grin and looked like she was about to open it when she glanced up to see both sisters looking at her expectantly. As much as she wished to read it right this moment, she knew better than to do so in front of the two, or at least in front of Eda. She would just be opening herself up to an embarrassing running commentary on the faces she made as she read it. 

It had happened the last two times she had received letters from Amity. Eda liked to sit and make gagging noises as she did. Reluctantly, she pocketed the letter, pulling out her own and holding it out to Lilith, who took it and slipped it back beneath her cloak.

“How are things going over at Blight dungeons?” Eda asked, leaning back in her chair and looking at her sister tiredly. 

“Well enough,” the black-haired knight sighed, sitting back in her seat as she regarded the two of them. “Amity and I are continuing her training, she’s improving and it fills her days but…,” she hummed, glancing off to the side. Eda grunted and Luz frowned at that, fists curling into fists against her thighs beneath the table. 

She still felt guilty, guilty that she hadn’t acted quick enough or maybe they had acted too soon and gotten caught for lack of planning on their part. She hated that Amity was locked up in the manor, never allowed out of sight for fear that she would make a run for it or Luz would try and break her out, which to be fair, she was. She was doing everything in her power to find a way to get Amity out or to break off the betrothal. The latter was all but impossible, so her time would be better focussed on trying to get Amity out. It was very slow and they had no real ideas as of yet. Gus and Willow seemed equally at a loss for what to do, especially after Luz had, against Eda’s advice snuck onto the perimeter of the manor grounds to get a vague idea of what she was dealing with and the number of guards that now patrolled the manor at night did not inspire confidence in her plan to break Amity out.

Jerbo had been right. There wasn’t a single blindspot she could exploit to get onto the grounds, then there was the pesky matter of actually getting inside and then finding Amity and getting her out without being caught. 

Eda was right though, if she was caught, she would definitely be killed this time. She couldn’t just go running into this headfirst like she had everything else in her life. She needed a plan or she and Amity both were going to suffer for it. Luz didn’t mind taking consequences for herself, but she would be damned if she hurt Amity anymore than she already had. 

She had to be smart about this and that meant being patient; admittedly not her strong suit, but she was going to try. 

She really wished she could talk to her or see her, even if just for a moment. They had taken to passing letters back and forth through Lilith, and it was better than silence but it wasn’t enough. She wanted to see the witch with her own eyes, hear her tell her that she was okay, or at least that she was getting by; much like Luz herself. She missed the witch desperately and when she laid in bed at night, in the still and quiet, listening to the sounds of Eda and King snoring nearby, she would gaze out the window, her chest aching. 

She would watch the glittering stars or the moon and wonder, vaguely, if Amity was looking at them too at that moment. She knew the green-haired witch liked to stare out the large window in her bedroom for long periods of time, watching the stars when she couldn’t sleep. 

Not since her mother died had Luz ever felt such a keen loss of someone, especially someone who was still alive, which made it hurt all the more in a way. She still thought fondly of her mother and often but the pain had long dulled and she knew that nothing could change it.

It was quite different with Amity. The pain was still fresh and raw and the fact that Amity was still alive and being held beyond her reach made those wounds ache all the more. Pain and anger in tandem cycled through her most days. 

To fill the sudden emptiness of those days, she and Eda went on every job they could find, monsters, manhunts, and even some lost objects, though she had to stop Eda from stealing them at the end of the job. 

If nothing else it was something to do and they were making money, because, despite everything happening, Luz still had to eat, and had lost her position. Now that Luz was a fully realized knight, she and Eda split the money down the middle rather than the older knight just handing out a sort of allowance to her. She often stopped by the apothecary to drop off her payments for safekeeping and chat with Willow about her current predicament. The witch was a good listener and let the knight vent her frustrations to her. 

She shook herself from her thoughts and looked back up to focus her attention on Lilith. 

“What do you think we should do?” she asked the black-haired knight, who looked at her for a long moment, lips pursed in thought. 

“At this point, I’m not certain. They keep a tight watch over her when she isn’t locked in her room or training with me in the courtyard.” 

Luz tried hard not to grit her teeth at that, guilt welling up once again. Before she could even start to beat herself up a hand on her shoulder made her lookup. Eda was looking at her knowingly.

“Relax, Kid. We’ll think of something.” she squeezed her shoulder and Luz sighed, letting her frustrations bleed out of her. 

“I just wish I could see her…,” she mumbled dejectedly.

“I think I can help with that,” Lilith spoke up, drawing their attention as she pulled something out from beneath her cloak. A piece of parchment with a broken seal and held it out to Eda, who took it and quickly scanned the words. Luz leaned in over her shoulder, trying to see.

“The old bozo is throwing one of his balls?” Eda looked up at her sister. “What for?” 

Lilith shrugged as Eda handed the paper to Luz, 

_‘His royal majesty, Emperor Lavartum Belos hereby demands your presence, and a guest if you wish, at the Blackstone castle to be in attendance of the Winter gala…’_

Next week’s date followed the simple and concise ‘invitation’ if one could call it that.

“The war is wrapping up, I would hazard a guess that it has something to do with that, but there's no way to know for certain without attending, though there is little choice in the matter,” Lilith said as she accepted the invitation back.

“Ugh, another reason why I left all that stuffy noble shit behind,” Eda grunted, folding her arms over her chest. 

“Wait!” Luz’s head whipped to look at her old mentor. “You’re a noble!?” her mouth hung open in shock and Eda snorted.

“I haven’t been a part of the nobility in forever, Luz. I left all that stuff behind a long damn time ago. Lily was always better at those games.”

“Why did you leave?” the younger knight asked, tilting her head questioningly. The sisters shared a glance before Eda turned back to her former apprentice.

“I didn’t exactly fit their idea of what I was supposed to be. That made things a little… rough at home for a while, back when I was… a different person.” She shrugged and Luz hummed. She had a pretty good idea of what the knight meant after the “Hexes hold’em” incident, and she didn’t see the issue but she guessed it didn’t matter. Her former mentor had always seemed so comfortable in her own skin and the idea of who she was, it was something Luz always aspired to, though doubt left her feeling like she often came up short. 

“Alright,” she nodded then turned back to Lilith. “So, how does this help me see Amity?” Luz asked her.

“I am allowed a guest and Lady Arrogán was also invited, her guest will of course be her betrothed…”

“Amity!” Luz yelped and Lilith nodded.

“One must behave in a very strict and proper way in Blackstone castle. Guests are required to be polite and cordial at all times, lest they face the Emperor’s ire. Boscha would not be able to say or do anything were you to speak to Amity, provided…”

“So long as you two don’t get all handsy.” Eda grinned and Luz flushed. A small part anger, but mostly embarrassment. 

“A crude way of putting it, but yes. You must remain on your best behavior and be mindful of what you do and say. You’re also going to need something else to wear.” Her sharp gaze roamed over Luz, who suddenly felt very judged, but nodded.

“I’ll go as soon as I leave here.” 

Lilith nodded and stood from the table.

“Very good, I must be going now, but I will meet you at the Redstone Inn an hour before the event is to begin.” With that, she turned and wound her way through the crowd of drunks before vanishing outside. 

“I’m gonna head back to the Inn.” Luz stood too and Eda nodded, giving her a sly, knowing look that Luz pointedly ignored before she too stood. 

“I’m gonna drink…,” she said, making her way over to the bar. 

Luz turned and scurried out of the bar. Her letter from Amity was burning a hole in her pocket and the second she returned to her and Eda’s room in the inn, she flopped down on the bed beside King, jolting him. He huffed, glaring at her as she pulled it out, eagerly unfolding it, and began to read.

 _“Luz,  
How were your jobs this week? Hopefully, you're staying safe and relatively uninjured. I miss you….”_

She smiled stupidly to herself as she read. 

~ ~

Amity tapped her foot incessantly as she waited eagerly for Lilith to return from her trip to town to meet Luz and Eda.

Her siblings lounged on her bed, watching her with knowing and amused glances, especially when a knock sounded on the door and she jumped, starting to rush to the door before she stooped and the two could see her have to physically restrain herself, proper decorum having become an afterthought when anything Luz related was concerned as she called for them to enter. 

Lilith walked in, carefully shutting the door behind her.

"Well?" Amity asked. 

"Skipping the pleasantries today I see," was the raven knight's response, making Amity flush and the twins snickered loudly to themselves. 

"Forgive me I…" Amity started, embarrassed, but Lilith only waved a hand, a smile pulling up at the corners of her mouth.

"No need for apologies. I know how eager you are for word from her," she said, reaching into her pocket and pulling out a folded piece of paper. Amity hurried forward to take it, but before she could even begin to open it, Lilith spoke again.

"I do have some news that I believe you will be interested in hearing though…" That made the young noble look up and pay attention.

"I invited Luz as my guest to the winter gala next week and she readily agreed."

"I'll see her next week?" Amity asked, appearing to be near stupefied awe at the prospect.

"Yes, but I'm sure I need not remind you of the rules that must be followed at Blackstone Castle, especially if we wish to keep your father allowing you to train." Lilith cocked a brow and Amity nodded.

"No, I'm familiar," she assured her and Lilith nodded.

"Good. I have no doubt that the slight sense of impropriety from the two of you will have Boscha seeking retribution.” She grunted and Amity nodded. “Very well, I will leave you to your letter." She turned and glided across the room and out the door, leaving her and the twins again and she quickly hurried over to her vanity chair and sat before she opened her letter, eager for any news from Luz. 

Her face moved through an array of pleasant and happy faces as she read. It was mostly Luz rambling about the Chupacabra pack she and Eda had hunted down in a village a few miles outside Bonesburrough, but she was glad for any words from her love that reached her inside her prison. 

When she sadly and inevitably reached the end of the letter, though the large and boldly lined words ‘I love you’ made her tingle pleasantly, she folded it up and sighed wistfully to herself. 

How could it be possible to love someone so much?

The twins looked at each other knowingly after watching the myriad of faces and emotions that had flickered across Amity’s face and both of them grinned.

Suddenly she heard her brother's voice from behind her on the bed. 

“Ya know, Mittens. It’s strange you weren’t born with the natural ‘Blight green’ hair.” Her brother smirked at her as he set his head in his hands and kicked his feet back and forth. Emira snickered quietly under her breath.

Amity frowned, looking up from her letter at him, eyes narrowed. Sensing something coming, though she wasn’t sure what. 

“Why’s that?” She cocked a skeptical brow at him, the letter still clutched between her hands. 

“You're very reminiscent of an evergreen forest,” was his answer, only making the youngest Blight all the more confused. Emira though was trying to suppress the grin pulling at her lips. 

“How so?”

“You’re full of sap, pinning, and hardwood,” Edric grinned and Emira snorted behind her hand. Amity stared at him for a moment before her face flushed crimson and she scowled, lips pulling back over her teeth 

“Get out!" she yelled, pointing to the door. They quickly took the advice and scurried out, still chuckling to themselves loudly.

Amity sighed and looked down at the letter, holding it to her chest.

She would get to see Luz…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Getting there!


	24. Chapter 24

“Is it supposed to look like this?” Luz asked as she stepped out from behind the changing screen in the tailor's shop. Gus and Willow looked up as she did and Gus snorted. Willow gave him a slap to the arm and nodded her head.

“It’s a little more traditional than most people wear these days but yes.” she nodded as she inspected the outfit they had given Luz to try on for the ball.

She frowned mightily from her place in front of them, stuffed into the poofiest shirt she had ever seen with so many frills around the collar that if she leaned her head down they tickled her nose and two layers piled on top that made it a chore to bend her arms at the elbows. Not to mention it was the ugliest shade of ochre yellow she had ever seen in her life. The puffy shoulder bits were driving her insane with the scratchy sounds and the way they restricted her movement.

“Well, what do you think?” Willow asked as she moved around Luz in a wide circle to inspect the garments. 

Luz made a noise in the back of her throat and frowned as Gus snickered to himself.

“I don’t like it,” she whined and Gus burst into laughter while Willow frowned, eyes flickering over to the wheezing archivist before turning back to Luz, who was making a face as she tried to bend her arms. Her biceps refusing to touch her sides because of the poofed-up sleeves. 

“You said you wanted to look ‘fancy as possible’ if you recall.” Willow cocked a brow and planted her hands on her hips as she watched the knight struggle to move in the layers of fabric. 

“Okay, yes but I still wanted to be able to move!” Luz huffed as she waddled over to the nearest mirror and frowned at her reflection. “Also, I look ridiculous!” she yelped and Gus continued to giggle and snort at her. Willow sent him a look and he slapped a hand over his mouth, trying to smother his laughter. 

“Well, as I said, this is a little more along the lines of traditional and really only the oldest and most prestigious members of the noble families will be wearing anything like this, you could get away with something a lot less formal than this. Especially given you aren’t a noble.” 

“I think that might be best…,” Luz grumbled to herself and quickly returned to behind the changing screen. As she did, Willow went back to the small pile of clothes they had gathered for Luz to try and Gus cleared his throat, finally getting himself under control.

“Okay, so, how would you address the Emperor if he approached you?” Gus asked, quizzing her on proper etiquette and protocol for the ball. 

“Uh…,” Luz’s voice floated out from behind the screen, along with the rustling sound of fabric as she worked to free herself from her poofy prison. “I’m guessing ‘hello’ is not the right answer…,” Luz mumbled, her voice was muffled by fabric. 

“Uh, no. If he approaches you, you bow, first of all, and then wait till he speaks to you.” 

Luz made a humming noise followed by a grunt and another swish of fabric before the poofy, ugly overcoat flew out from behind the curtain.

“If you do have to address him, ‘My Emperor’ is the only correct way,” Gus said as Willow picked up something new and handed it to Luz behind the screen.

“Try this,” she said, handing over a length of violet fabric. 

“Oh, I think this is more my style,” Luz said as she took it and Willow sat back down next to Gus as they waited for her to dress.

“Don’t worry about it too much, Luz. Lilith will be with you and she’s a veteran of the Emperor's court. She’ll walk you through any situation that might come up, just don’t talk or even look at any of the other nobles if you can help it. They’re always looking for an excuse to start duels to make themselves look better.” She rolled her eyes. “The day after every ball he throws there's always people in my shop talking about one noble or another that got stabbed in a duel or someone’s wife ran off with another noble after the party was over…,” Willow trailed off.

“You’re not making me feel better, Willow,” Luz grumbled.

“Well, I’m telling you, just don’t talk or look at anyone…,” she trailed off as Luz stepped back around the screen.

She was still wearing the white shirt but overtop she now wore a shin-length tunic in dark violet, synched at the waist with a corded black belt.

“Okay, this is better,” she said as she twisted around, testing the flexibility of it, and quickly moved over to the mirror to inspect herself. “This is so much better.” she nodded to herself.

“You look less...bouncy,” Gus nodded and Willow snorted.

“The only thing you really need to watch out for is keeping yourself under control,” Willow warned and Luz glanced at her from the reflection in the mirror and frowned. 

“I can behave….” she started but Willow shot her a stern look.

“You know what I mean. Whether you like it or not, Amity is Boscha’s betrothed and that is all anyone is going to know if you show up and try to do something stupid, Luz. You need to play this smart. Trying to obviously come between them will only end badly. Anything you do will also be reflected on Lilith since you’re her guest,” the herbalist reminded her and Luz sighed heavily, shoulders dropping.

“I know…,” she mumbled, staring back at her own reflection tiredly. “I just…” she held up her hands, fingers crooked into claws as she glared at herself.

“We know… which is all the more reason to play it smart. You’re getting to see her and Boscha nor her parents can do anything about it. But one misstep will get you thrown out or worse,” she carefully reminded. 

“Right…,” she grumbled, dropping her hands to her sides and staring forlornly into the mirror at herself. The whole ordeal made her so tired to think about at times. She just wanted to be with Amity. Why could nothing ever just be easy for her, why was it all always a struggle?

Willow and Gus shared a worried glance.

“Hey, cheer up, we’ll think of something, just focus on tomorrow night, you finally get to see her!” Gus smiled and Luz nodded, turning to face them.

“You’re right, there's nothing I can do about it right now, but I won't stop trying.” her fists clenched at her sides.

“One thing at a time.” Willow nodded.

“So!” Luz held out her arms. “What do you think, do I still look fancy enough?” she asked, spinning around in a little circle for her friend's inspection. 

“You look great.” Willow smiled.

“Perfect!” Gus agreed, heartily nodding. 

“Great, I’m gonna pay for it and we can get out of here…” 

“Let’s go down to the market square,” Gus suggested, perking up and she and Willow quickly nodded. Luz paid for the garment and once it was wrapped up, the three hurried out of the shop and through the city streets, crowded with people as it was every day. 

She wasn’t looking for anything in particular, just trying to keep her mind off the coming party. They moved along, stopping at several stalls and looking at all the different wares for sale, but nothing really jumped out at her and not for lack of the merchants trying to entice her into spending her money.

“Oooh, what’s that?” Gus took off toward a stall that seemed to be selling some kind of manuscripts and Willow followed with a fond roll of her eyes.

Luz laughed and shook her head, turning to look at another row of stalls and something bright and glittery caught her attention but so did the happy and boisterous witch standing in front of it, waving a cane and trying to entice patrons.

She hummed to herself and walked over. His eyes were quick to catch hers and a large grin broke out across his face as he turned fully toward her. Quickly taking in her sword and appearance he tapped his cane on the ground. 

“My good knight, can I interest you in a finely jeweled hairpiece…” he glanced at her short hair but seemed undeterred. “Perhaps for a friend or loved one?” He had a bright, jolly nature to him that Luz immediately liked him.

She glanced over his wares, the shiny thing that had caught her eye turned out to be a collection of silver and gold metal hair decoration pieces, inlaid with an array of tiny gemstones, but one, in particular, caught her eye. She made a motion to pick it up, glancing questioningly at the witch, who only grinned and motioned with his cane. She picked up and ran her fingers over it. 

It was a small round piece of immaculately shined silver, covered in circular rows of gemstones in a bright spectrum of rainbow colors. A row of tiny rubies, followed by citrine and following the rainbow to a single violet gem at its center. 

It was beautiful and she couldn’t help but think that Amity would like it. A thought that was accompanied by a brief shot of pain in her heart. Her hand around it clenched tightly and she frowned for a moment, mindful of the witch nearby.

“Ahh, an excellent choice, a one-of-a-kind piece and would look wonderful on any witch!” he claimed with a boisterous swing of his arm, nearly wacking her with his cane as he did. “I guarantee anyone who receives it will be pleased as a stuffed griffin with you.” 

Luz ran a finger over it. Amity would like it, and that was her only prevailing thought as she watched the warm, winter sunlight bounce of all the little facets of the stones. 

“How much?” she asked, looking up at him. 

“Two gold pieces, Friendo!” He smiled tapping the end of his cane on the ground and bouncing on his toes as Luz dug through the pouch on her belt, finally taking notice of the animal carved in shiny, darkly grained wood atop the cane. A proudly sitting wolf, with a pair of long, smoothly curving antlers atop its head; curious. She held out the money, dropping it into his large hand and he smiled brightly at her. 

“Thank you kindly, my good knight.” He tipped his head to her and Luz nodded as she moved to rejoin her friends waiting nearby. “I’m sure your lady friend will enjoy it!” He called at her back and Luz paused, looking at him over her shoulder and he winked before turning back to the moving throngs of people crowding the market and immediately started shouting out his pitch again.

Luz, cheeks dusted pink, hurried back to her friends’ side. 

“What did you buy?” Willow asked as she approached and the knight held out the small jeweled hairpiece for their inspection. 

“Oh, that’s beautiful, Luz,” Willow said and Gus nodded enthusiastically.

“Your hair might be a little too short for it though…,” Gus admitted, looking up at the human's thick, dark strands of brown hair.

“It’s for Amity,” she said, making them both look up at her. “I’m going to try and give it to her tomorrow night.

“Luz…,” Willow trailed off. 

“I know,” she said, cutting off anything else the other witch might have been about to say. “I’ll be careful, but I’m afraid of Amity giving up hope,” she admitted. “I want her to know that I’m not going to give up. I won’t stop until we’re together again.” Her hand clutched around the hairpiece tightly, words falling from her mouth unbidden “Maybe even… my wife?” she looked up at the two flabbergasted expressions on the two witch’s faces. 

“Wait, wait, wait!” Gus shook his hands. “Are you saying you want to marry Amity?” The apprentice archivist asked her, dark eyes growing wide.

It had been a sudden thought, one she had only but a few moments ago, but the more Luz mulled over the idea, the more attached she got to it. She loved Amity in a way she didn’t think was possible, like the tales in the books she adored so much. It was hard to describe in words. Her affection for Amity was a feeling in her chest that clutched so tightly to her heart that the idea of letting it go, for any reason, caused the muscle beneath her ribs to quiver painfully. 

Before, when she thought about the future, she’d imagine herself traveling across the Isles, killing monsters and taking jobs, helping people, and making a name for herself. Luz Noceda, human witch knight. 

She still did, but now that vision of the future was altered. Now it featured Amity traveling with her, maybe going on jobs with her once she was more proficient with a blade. They could be a fantastic team on the battlefield the same way they were off it. 

She believed that and she wanted it.

“Yes…,” she slowly began to nod, becoming firmer and more resolute. “I want to marry Amity.”

Her friends looked at each other for a moment before wide smiles broke out across their faces and they both turned to look at Luz.

“Well, then we better come up with a plan to break off her current betrothal,” Willow smirked and Luz grinned at them.

~ ~ ~

Luz hummed, annoyed to herself as she straightened out the ruffle-ended sleeves beneath her long tunic. Between the sleeves and the collar, she wasn’t the most comfortable she’d even been, but it was a far cry from the other clothes Willow had stuffed her into at the tailor’s, so she would deal with it.

Eda watched her as she constantly straightened her clothes and ran a hand over her slicked-back hair, fussing with every aspect of her appearance. The Owl knight sighed tiredly and looked over at King, who looked equally annoyed by the younger knight’s constant fussing and pacing about the small room.

“Will you relax?” She finally sat up and huffed tiredly at her former apprentice, who glanced at her over her shoulder. “I know you’re nervous but it will be fine, you got Lily, and while she’s not much fun at a party, she does know all about this noble shit, so just keep your head down and do what she tells you,” Eda advised her, pulling a flask out from her tunic and unscrewing it to take a long drink.

“I know, I just… I’m going to a ball thrown by the Emperor… full of old, stuffy nobles who apparently take every chance they can get to start shit and will notice right away that I’m human, not to mention the one that’s keeping Amity from me!” She turned around to face the older knight, throwing her hands up in the air. Eda looked at her tiredly over the end of her flask before swallowing and sighing as she screwed the lid back on.

“All excellent points,” she nodded but didn’t seem at all bothered by Luz’s excellent points, making her frown grumpily at her old mentor. “But you’ll get it done. Hopefully without a body count, but done all the same.” 

“How do you know? I could end up on the gallows by the end of the night…,” she muttered and Eda nodded, heaving herself off the bed to stand next to Luz.

“True…,” she said, not making the younger knight feel any better. “But I know you, Kid. I know you love that girl too, so I know you’ll get it done,” she said, crossing her arms. “You always do.” 

Luz looked up at her, eyes welling up as she stared up at the knight, who realized a moment too late what was about to happen and didn’t have time to react before Luz had wrapped her arms around her in a tight embrace, making her wheeze.

“Thanks, Eda,” she mumbled into the knight's shoulder.

“Yeah yeah, now just get outta here, Lily should be here at any second, she’s a stickler for being on time,” The Owl knight managed to wheeze. Luz finally released her and nodded. 

“Right, wish me luck!” She grinned and turned, hurrying out of the room. Eda just smirked at her retreating back. 

“Good luck,” she mumbled. 

She patted her chest pocket, making sure the hairpiece was still tucked safely inside her tunic, and nodded to herself as she hurried down the stairs and out the front doors. The sun was only just now beginning to set as she stepped outside into the cold winter air. Her breath came out in little clouds as she walked out, looking around for the raven knight. 

She didn’t have to wait long. A few moments later a large, solid white horse trotted up to the front of the Inn, Lilith situated in its saddle.

“I see you’re ready,” she said as her gaze trailed over Luz, inspecting. 

“As ready as I'll ever be…” She nodded and that made a small grin tug at the elder Clawthorne sister’s lips. 

“Yes, knowing what exactly one of these events is like, I’d say you are. Let’s be off then.” 

Luz wasted no time mounting Singe and then she was following Lilith through town, heading for the large, towering castle in the distance. She had seen it many times, a dark monolith of sharp black stone on the horizon, but Luz had never had any need or desire to venture to Blackstone Castle, till now. 

When they arrived, a guard at the massive front gate took their horses. She supposed if Lilith was as high in the Emperor’s ranks as she and Eda alluded to, the guards would know her on sight; she had a face that was hard to forget. She followed Lilith as she led the way through the large, immaculately manicured courtyard, full of hedges cut into shapes of various beasts, including manticore's dragons and rocs. A towering fountain took up the center of the courtyard, crystal clear water falling in a smooth stream down from the crying eyes of a pair of white marble statues.

“That's ominous…,” Luz mumbled to herself as she looked at the smooth, weeping sculptures as they passed. The massive entrance area led straight into a cavernously large ballroom. 

It seemed that while Lilith was a ‘stickler’ for time, she liked to arrive fashionably late and when they entered the room, it was already filled with people, all milling about and talking, eating or dancing across the polished, white, marble floor. Chandeliers with glittering crystals hung down from the ceiling, their bright flames flickered and danced in an unseen wind, lighting up the room and its occupants, dressed in the finest silks and cotton, adorned with metals and jewels. The Empire’s richest and most elite citizens in attendance. 

“Remember, keep your head down, and do not start conversations with anyone.” Lilith’s voice made her look over, the older knight's sharp eyes bore into her and she nodded. The last thing she needed was trouble with yet more nobles outside the one she already did. “The Emperor shouldn’t appear for some time yet to make his announcement, until then you are free to mingle, though I highly suggest you stick to eating if you must. I need to see to something so you will be on your own for a time. Amity should arrive soon if she hasn’t yet.” 

“I’ll be fine, I won’t talk to anyone,” Luz promised. Lilith nodded before moving off into the crowd. Once her dark head had vanished into the crowd, she quickly made her way through the assembled witch’s as she moved to the table laden with food on the other side of the room, being sure to keep her eyes down as she did, though she glanced up at them from beneath her lashes as she did. She looked around, already searching for a familiar head of green hair, but didn’t immediately see Amity among the many nobles and their guests that filled the room. 

She did, however, see a few others turn to look at her, and by the way, their gaze lingered on her head, she knew they were looking at her ears. Her instinctual reaction was to reach up and hide them, as she had done as a kid after her mom had died. She’d done it for a time after she’d started traveling with Eda, but the knight had broken her of the habit quickly enough. It had been a long time since that urge had reared its ugly head, but it had been a long time since so many witches had looked at her like that at once too.

She fought back the impulse and kept heading straight for the food, not making eye contact with any of them as she moved across the room, still not spotting any familiar flashes of green as she did. 

She let out a breath of relief as she reached the table, though she wasn’t truly anymore safe than she was on the other side of the room, she could at least keep her eyes focused on her food rather than the nobles that moved around her. Willow was right, the only people she saw dressed in the bigger and gaudier outfits seemed to be the older witch’s among the crowd. Younger ones wore much simpler, but still elegant dresses or were dressed in a similar fashion to herself. So, unless someone looked up and spotted her ears, which she admitted, with her slicked-back hair, were on full display, they wouldn't know her from any other witch.

She focussed on the food, trying to ignore the eyes she could feel on her back. She wasn’t really hungry, but she hadn’t eaten all day. Her stomach had been in knots ever since she woke up; It still was but it gave her something to do. She felt very on display, even though it was only a few people looking at her. She hoped Lilith came back soon, she was very out of her element here.

“Surprised to see you here.” A familiar voice made her jump and turn to look at the person now standing at her shoulder and almost choked on the food in her mouth.

“Viney!?” the knight yelped as she came face to face with the blacksmith, though not like Luz had ever seen her before. 

She was dressed very similarly to Luz in a dark orange tunic and boots, her hair still up in its customary top knot, and for once her face was free of ashy smudges. It was strange to see her outside her customary leather apron and gloves. 

“You look very uncomfortable.” The witch grinned at her, crossing her arms over her chest as she looked at the knight knowingly.

“That’s one way of putting it, but what are you doing here?” Luz asked and the smith chuckled. 

“I could ask you the same thing, but you did ask first.” She grinned. “My family is part of the nobility.” she shrugged.

“You’re a noble?!” Luz yelped and the smith chuckled, nodding.

“Yeah, The Griffin family is relatively new money I guess you could say, we don’t really fit with the rest of the gentry, old money, like the Blights or Arrogàns. Which is how we like it, less drama.” 

“You never told me you were a noble…” Luz blinked at the witch. Of all the nobles Luz had known in her life, Viney was the person who fit the bill least, well, maybe her and Eda. That had also been a surprise though. 

“You never asked.” The blacksmith gave her a shit-eating grin and Luz couldn’t help but snort at that.

“Well… you got me there, I never asked,” she chuckled and Viney laughed as well. “So, what, you make your money from the smithy?” Luz cocked her head.

“Naw, that's just a thing I started for fun, though it does make money. I like doing it and you meet the most interesting people.” She looked at Luz knowingly. “My family’s money is in the raising and taming of wild beasts for use, usually by the Emperor's forces. We raise and train griffins, chimeras, hippogriffs, and gargoyles mostly, but we do deal with other kinds of demonic animals and beasts.”

“That’s how you knew about King!” Luz suddenly remembered the first time the smith had ever met the demon wolf. 

“And the situation with the Blights,” She nodded, chuckling at Luz’s stupefied expression. “We don't like to get involved in the nobility stuff, it’s a big ass mess, as I’m sure you’ve noticed,” she said quietly. “But it’s still important to stay informed.” She looked around at all the nobles and the servants walking around the ballroom. Luz nodded. “So, gonna tell me what you’re doing here of all places?” she asked, turning back to look at Luz curiously. 

“I came to see Amity, I know she’s gonna be here with Boscha, so Lilith invited me as her guest.” 

“A bold move, I respect it though. Hopefully, it pans out. What’s your plan?” Viney asked, tilting her head questioningly.

“I… don’t know…,” she trailed off and Viney threw her head back and laughed loudly, drawing the attention of the people standing nearby. Luz blushed at the obvious mirth.

“Why does that not surprise me in the least?” Viney chuckled, wiping at her eyes and grinning at the knight before her gaze went to something over Luz’s shoulder and her grin widened if that were possible. “Here’s your chance to wing it now.” she tilted her head and Luz glanced over her shoulder, eyes lighting upon Amity as she walked through the room. Her siblings and Boscha at her side. Her breath seized as she looked at the witch. Her dress was the same ugly, dark, mustard yellow color as the tunic Boscha was wearing and it hurt Luz’s eyes to see but even so, she was beautiful as ever in her floor-length dress with the long billowing sleeves and modest neckline. Her hair was once again in her customary shoulder-length cut and sides pulled back, unlike the last time she had laid eyes upon her.

She swallowed thickly, unable to move, but she didn’t stay that way long as Viney nudged her in the ribs with an elbow.

“Come on, let’s enact your ‘no plan’ plan,” the smith grinned and Luz blinked at her before a smile broke out across her face and she nodded, feeling a little more confident with the smith at her side. 

“Right!” she drew herself up to full height and the two quickly made their way over to the four. 

Edric and Emira noticed her first and their faces broke into giant grins as she approached. 

“Luz!” The two called and that made Amity and Boscha both whip around at the call. Amity’s face was a mask or total surprise that quickly morphed into unfettered joy as Boscha scowled at the two. 

“What are you doing here?” Edric quickly asked, grinning at her and she couldn’t help but smile back, even as she desperately wanted to turn and address Amity.

“Oh, I…” 

“She’s my guest,” Viney quickly jumped in and Luz couldn't help but turn to the smith and blink, but Viney was giving her a certain look, the message was clear ‘don’t correct it’ so she didn’t.

“And who are you?” Boscha asked sourly, arms crossing over her chest as she looked down her nose at the smith.

“Viney, of the Griffin family.” She nodded her head to the other noble, whose frown twitched like she wanted to scowl but given where they currently stood and the rules of propriety that governed them all, refrained. 

“Ladies Blight, Lord Blight” She nodded to the three Blight siblings with a knowing grin. Emira flushed under the look and cleared her throat. 

“Lady Blight…,” Luz finally spoke, eyes locked on Amity, who smiled at her. 

“Ser Luz,” Amity couldn't stop the smile pulling at her lips even if she wanted to, even as her betrothed stood at her side, internally seething, Luz could feel it as those three eyes burned into her, but she did not care. There was little Boscha could do so long as the two remained proper. 

There was something Luz could do though and glanced out at the dance floor where a number of couples were moving swiftly across the dance floor to the strumming tune of a lyre and other accompanying instruments. They were not married yet, even if in a perverse way, Boscha all but owned the youngest Blight, so she could not stop her from accepting.

“Lady Blight, may I have this dance?” She stepped forward and offered a hand. One look could tell that the twins were highly amused with the whole situation as they looked over at Boscha, whose face had turned an interesting shade of red as she chewed through her tongue in an effort not to tell off the human, who was protected by her status as a nobles guest as well as the proper social protocols. 

The rules of etiquette meant that only Amity or her father could deny the knight, and they all knew it. She had spent days going over all the different rules and cues with both Lilith and Eda, as well as Gus and Willow. 

Amity didn’t hesitate to slide her hand into Luz’s larger one.

“You may,” her voice was breathy and low as she accepted and allowed Luz to lead her onto the dance floor. Edric grinned at Boscha as she continued to rapidly change shades of red, standing by as her intended hurriedly accepted the offer from the human knight. 

Emira glanced at the noble blacksmith, hoping to catch her eye. However, she was watching the knight and her sister move onto the dance floor and sighed to herself.

Once they were safely separated from the Arrogàn heir, Luz set a hand on the witch’s hip as Amity laid her free one on the human's shoulder. They moved along with the moderate tempo of the music, unable to stop grinning at each other. While it was certainly telling in its own way, there was nothing anyone could do to prove it. 

“I missed you so much…,” Amity finally mumbled, despite the distance and music that covered up their conversation.

“I missed you too.” Her fingers dug into Amity’s hip firmly. “How are you holding up?” she asked with a subtle tilt of her head. Amity frowned, which made Luz frown as well.

“I've been worse, but I’ve also been better, I mostly stay in my room when I’m not out with Lilith. My training is coming along, she’s a much tougher teacher than you ever were…” A small smile pulled at her lips as Luz laughed at that. 

“I believe it, she is much more serious than I am…” she nodded as she led them across the dancefloor. They were silent for a moment before Luz spoke again. “We’re doing everything we can to figure out how to break off the betrothal… Just hold on a while longer, Amor.” Luz mumbled and Amity nodded. 

“I know…,” she breathed. How badly she wanted to lay her head on Luz’s chest and let her hold her, but if anything was off-limits at this moment, it was that. “I just wish to be out of this damn betrothal already… away from her… and back with you,” Amity muttered, her grip on Luz’s hand in hers tightened and the knight squeezed back comfortingly. 

Luz hummed, suddenly remembering the little rainbow hairpiece that was burning a hole against her chest in her tunic’s inner pocket. Now was as good a time as any. Who knew when the two of them would be face to face again?

“Amity…,” she called, making the witch look up at her. “What would you say to… a different betrothal?” she asked nervously. Amity blinked at her, brows furrowing between her eyes as she tried to puzzle out the meaning of her question. 

“What do you-” Her mouth snapped shut as she looked into Luz’s dark, brown eyes and saw the unasked question in them. “Wh.. to…,” she stammered, eyes widening in shock as the full force of the question hit her like a raging Bandersnatch coming out of the woods. 

Luz couldn't help but smile at her as she tried to force out the words. 

“You want to marry me?” she finally managed to ask. The question came out low and breathy and Luz chuckled, gazing at her so fondly and soft that Amity had to physically suppress the shiver that tried to ripple up her spine. 

“Who else could I possibly want?” she asked like it was the most obvious thing in the world and the rush of affection that shot through Amity was so hot and searing that it threatened to burn her to cinder right there on the dance floor in Luz’s arms. 

“So…,” Luz started, unsure now as the silence stretched between them and Amity jolted.

“Yes!” she cried and Luz jerked back, blinking as Amity blushed before a bright grin split her face.

“Yeah?” she asked leaning back in as Amity nodded.

“Yes, I’ll marry you.” She nodded, her grip on Luz tightened to a white-knuckled grip as the knight grinned back at her. How badly she wanted to kiss the witch right now, but she was brought short by the consequences that awaited her and Amity both if she did.

“I love you,” she mumbled, mindful of all the people dancing around them as she squeezed Amity’s hand in hers. 

“I love you too,” Amity said, her words were a soothing balm on the raw spots on Luz’s heart that had burned and ached ever since they had parted ways some weeks ago.

“I have something for you… but I’m not sure when I’ll be able to give it to you without anyone seeing it… I may have to give it to Ed or Em.” She frowned.

“It’s okay,” Amity assured and before they knew it, the song had come to an end and they had no choice but to leave the dance floor, but they held onto each other's hands for as long as they could as Luz led her off the dancefloor to the other nobles waiting on the sidelines, all watching them with rapt interest.

They reluctantly let go of each other as they did and Boscha was quick to interject herself.

“Let’s go,” she grit out between clenched teeth, and Amity glared right back but knew better than to make a scene with everyone around them and reluctantly followed the redhead as she stalked away but threw a look over her shoulder at Luz as she went. Luz watched her go with a frown. 

“Try to stay out of trouble,” Edric winked at her as he turned to follow them.

“Wait, Emira.” Luz stopped the eldest Blight daughter before she could follow and pulled the wrapped hairpiece out of her tunic and handed it to her. “Will you give this to Amity later for me, please?” she asked and the witch smiled before taking it.

“I’ll get it to her, Luz,” she assured with a wink before turning to follow her siblings across the ballroom. 

“Well?” Viney asked as she took a sip of the drink she apparently had gone to get while she and Amity had been dancing. 

“I asked her to marry me.” 

Viney spat out her drink and Luz just barely dodged the spew of wine.

“You... what?” she asked, coughing as she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, staring at Luz with wide eyes. 

“I asked her to marry me, once we break off her betrothal,” Luz repeated. 

“What did she say?” The smith leaned in, waiting on bated breath. She was certain she already knew the answer by the way the knight was smiling but waited for it regardless.

“She said yes.” She was grinning stupidly to herself and she could feel it, but couldn’t for the life of her stop it even if she wanted to. 

Viney grinned and slapped her on the back, sending the knight flailing forward but she managed to keep herself from falling onto the floor. 

“Congratulations, Luz! Guess we better come up with a way to stop her other wedding, huh?” she asked with a chuckle and Luz nodded. 

“Yeah.” She looked out into the crowd of witches, catching fleeting glimpses of Amity’s mint green hair among them.

“I’m going to stop it or die trying.” She frowned, hands tightening into fists. Viney clapped her on the back again but much softer this time, her hand lingering to squeeze her friend's shoulder.

“Well, hopefully, it won’t come to that,” she said.

“There you are.” 

They both looked up as Lilith approached them.

“I take it you have not caused any uproars yet? The witch asked, looking between the two of them briefly before focusing on Luz, who shook her head.

“No, but I did find Amity.”

“And proposed marriage,” Viney added with a grin. Lilith startled at that, turning to look at Luz with wide eyes as if to ask ‘really?’. The knight nodded.

“I take it she accepted then, given we can break off her current betrothal?” she asked and Luz nodded again. Lilith hummed, glancing around the crowd. “The Emperor should be making his appearance soon and after that, we can leave. Till then, stay close, I’ve already heard talk of a human wandering around.” 

Luz frowned, she had been afraid of that. She glanced surreptitiously around the room and sure enough, there were a number of witches looking at her from behind their drinks or over their shoulders, trying to appear casual but Luz knew better. 

Her body tensed as a slight sense of dread and panic began to well up in her, followed closely on its heels was the suffocating feeling of claustrophobia as she became intimately aware of all the witch’s pressed in around her and she suddenly remembered the handful of other times that had happened. 

She wasn’t aware, however, of the suddenly concerned looks that Lilith and Viney were sending her. 

“Hey,” Viney called and the knight jerked, turning to look at her. “You okay?” she asked quietly and Luz nodded, swallowing her rising anxieties. She didn’t have time for that tonight. 

“I’ll be fine,” she assured them and Lilith hummed in response.

“Very well, it won’t be long now.”

It turned out that it wasn’t long at all.

It was only about a half-hour, which she spent sharing fleeting glances with Amity and watching the Arrogàn heir grow angrier and angrier as the night progressed before the Emperor appeared, flanked by two rows of guards on either side as he crossed the room to the raised dais on the far side of the ballroom.

Luz glanced around the people in front of her as he passed. She had only ever heard of him before and most of what she had heard, from Eda mostly, had never been the most flattering. 

He was tall and wore a white and gold cloak over his shoulders, obscuring most of his form, and a large, gold, horned mask covered his head. 

He stood on the dais and turned to them.

“Citizens of the empire, welcome to Blackstone Castle!” he greeted them with a raised arm, and clapping answered the declaration. “I’m sure you’re wondering why I have called you into attendance this night, allow me to answer that question. The ongoing battle with those that would deny our empire’s magnificent influence has finally been brought to heel!” his raised hand clenched into a fist and again, thunderous applause was the answer. 

Luz glanced at Lilith, who was frowning but kept silent, watching. 

“To celebrate this stride forward I have called you together to announce a tournament,” he said and Luz blinked at that. A tournament? “A display of our empire’s might. On the first day of spring, all knights with noble sponsorship will compete for wealth and glory as they demonstrate the power of the Boiling Isles!” he proclaimed and thundering, raucous applause answered.

With his speech done, the masked man disappeared almost as quickly as he appeared, not stopping to speak to anyone as he was escorted out by his retinue of guards.

“We can leave now,” Lilith said to her without preamble and started for the door. 

“Okay, just let me say bye to Amity really quick,” Luz told the older knight, who looked like she wanted to argue for a moment but seemed to think better of it and nodded.

“Be quick, I shall wait by the doors to the ballroom,” Lilith told her before turning and hurrying through the crowd. 

Luz quickly made her way through the crowd of witches, all talking excitedly to each other after the Emperor's speech. It didn’t take her long to find the Blight siblings and Boscha. Viney was with them, talking to Emira, who was smiling much wider than usual and Luz smirked to herself but chose to keep those thoughts to herself as she approached. Boscha saw her first and scowled at her before schooling her features into something more neutral but Luz could feel the venom in her look. 

Seeing the look on her face, Amity turned to look and smiled brightly at the sight of her, making Luz smile in turn. Boscha’s look only darkened further. 

Edric noticed her too.

“Hey Luz,” he greeted, making Emira and Viney look as well.

“Hey, I’m heading out, but I thought I’d just say bye first, she told the only Blight son distractedly as her attention had already shifted to Amity.

She missed the way Viney rolled her eyes at them, but Emira did not and she snickered under her breath.

“Have a good night, Luz,” Amity told her, gazing at her affectionately. Boscha’s face continued to twist up angrily, especially as she glanced at the look on the noble’s face. One of such gentle tenderness and affection that even without saying a word or lifting a hand in impropriety, what was going on between the secret lovers was apparent to anyone who bothered too so much as glance at them. 

Before Luz could say anything in response the red-head turned and stalked off into the crowd. The other four witches and Luz all glanced at each other as she did.

“I don’t like where this is going…,” Viney mumbled as she watched the knight stalk over to the dais. 

Amity and Luz exchanged a glance before Boscha stepped up onto the dais, garnering people's attention, but especially when she called out over the crowd. 

“Nobility of the empire, I am Boscha Arrogàn, heir to the Arrogàn family and I make this declaration: I will enter the Emperor’s tournament and win!” A murmur began to rise up over the crowd at the bold declaration.

“What the hell is she doing?” Edric blinked at the unabashed display of over-confidence. The rumor was that Boscha was good, but to brazenly declare to all the Empire’s nobility that she would win? That was something else entirely, but she was far from finished. 

“And on my family name I swear, anyone that can beat me, can have my betrothed, Amity Blight!” she declared and the murmur rose into a loud clamor at the statement. The twin's mouths dropped open and Viney blinked her wide eyes at that while Amity stared open-mouthed at her betrothed, though anger was quickly creeping up to cover the shock. 

Luz’s shock was even shorter-lived because from up on the dais, Boscha’s eyes locked with hers and the challenge was more than clear.

_‘You want her? Then come and take her.’_

Her fists clenched at her sides as she glared back at the red-head.

This was it, her opportunity to get Amity out of the betrothal, free and clear, to win her from Boscha, much as the thought of ‘winning’ her love left a bad taste in her mouth. She was going to take the opportunity.

“I’m going to enter the tournament,” Luz declared, making everyone look at her.

“You realize she’s baiting you right?” Edric asked her and Luz nodded.

“I know, and I’m going to make her regret it.” Luz scowled, lips pulled back over her teeth as she glared at the red-head. 

“Luz…,” Amity started, drawing the knight’s attention. She looked concerned and Luz wanted very much to reach out and comfort her, but she stopped herself just as her hand rose to do so, forcing it back to her side. The motion did not go unnoticed by Amity though, whose frown only deepened. “People can die in these tournaments, Luz!” she whispered harshly.

“I know, but this is probably our only way to sever your betrothal to her so you can be free and clear and we can get married.” 

“So you can what!?” The twins yelped at the same time and Amity nodded. 

“Later,” she snapped at them as Boscha descended the dais. “Luz, are you sure?” she asked and the knight nodded, before glancing around and quickly grabbing Amity’s hand and giving it a brief squeeze. 

“Trust me, I’m sure,” she said before dropping Amity’s hand and stepping back as Boscha approached them.

“Let’s go.” Viney nudged her. The knight nodded and with one last long look at Amity, she turned and hurried away with Viney.

They quickly pushed their way through the crowd toward the doors where Lilith was waiting on her.

The raven knight must have caught Boacha’s declaration if the look on her face was anything to go by. 

“Come, quickly, let’s be away from here,” Lilith said and then they were moving through the grand entryway. 

“You saw?” Luz asked her as they walked. The knight nodded.

“The entire ballroom saw that little display,” she grunted. “Clearly she was speaking to you more than anyone.” 

“I know…,” Luz growled. 

“Well, that was more eventful an evening than I thought it would be,” the smith huffed as they walked out into the courtyard.

“Yeah, now I'm entering a tournament only two months away and I need to find a sponsor…” she glanced at Lilith who shook her head.

“The Emperor has tasked me to be one of the judges, to sponsor you would show favoritism.” 

“Damnit, now what do I do?” She threw up her hands.

“I'll sponsor you.” 

Lilith and Luz both turned to look at the smith.

“You’ll sponsor me?” Luz repeated and the smith nodded with a grin.

“Sure, why not?” she asked with a shrug.

Luz couldn’t help herself and threw her arms around the noble, who laughed, patting her back as she squeezed.

“You’re the best, Viney!”

“Let’s not get crazy,” she laughed. “But what are friends for?” she asked as they stopped outside the gates and a guard hurried to fetch their horses.

“By the way, why did you tell them that I was your guest?” Luz asked, head cocked as she asked something she had been wondering in the back of her mind all evening.

“Well, Lilith is ferrying messages and stuff between the two of you right? If they knew you were her guest, they might start keeping a closer eye on her and limit her access to Amity.” The smith shrugged.

Lilith paused at that. 

“That… was not something I had considered,” she reluctantly mumbled after a moment. 

“You’re a lifesaver, Viney,” Luz said and the smith grinned and punched her in the shoulder as the guard returned with Singe and Lilith’s horse.

“We’ll just say you owe me a favor. Maybe more dragon teeth,” she laughed and Luz grinned.

“Anything you want,” she agreed and mounted Singe.

With a wave, to the smith the two were off, heading back toward town and the inn. They rode in relative silence for a while, Lilith in her own thoughts and Luz still trying to process the entire night. It had certainly been an evening she would not forget anytime soon.

“I hope you are prepared for what awaits you in one of the Emperor’s tourney’s,” Lilith told her once they were well and away from Blackstone Castle. 

Luz hoped so too.


	25. Chapter 25

Amity sat at her vanity putting the final touches on her letter. It wasn’t very long, only about a page, she wanted to put more, but it seemed that everything she wanted or needed to say was laid out very plainly with far fewer words than one would think such strong sentiments would warrant. 

She read it over a few times before nodding to herself and dipped the quill in the bottle of ink sitting atop the vanity and signed it with a flourish. She let it sit to dry and her eye fell on the newest addition to her desk since the Emperor’s ball two nights ago; Luz’s proposal gift.

The sun shined in through her window bounced off all the little gemstones, their sharp cut facets sending light bouncing in all directions in a spectrum of bright colors as it sat on the wood, winking at her in the sunlight. She picked it up and ran her fingers over the smooth, flat planes. The metal was cool under the skin of her thumb as she swiped the digit back and forth across it. 

It was beautiful and she loved it. The sight of it filled her chest with such warmth and joy that was difficult to contain at times but it was tempered by the knowledge that she would have to wait; that the future it promised was uncertain. Even though she had full faith and confidence in Luz to win the tourney. Beating Boscha into a bloody pulp was an extra little thing that Amity personally wouldn’t mind seeing though. 

She held it close to her chest and thought. She had never had a night where her mood had flipped so drastically and so many times as that one of the ball. Annoyed to elated to furious, before settling on totally and hopelessly in love. 

_The trip back to Blight manor was so tense you could cut it with a sword, no one spoke and the moment they arrived, Amity made a beeline for her bedroom, ready to be alone and as far away from the redhead as she possibly could. Leaving her siblings and Boscha to explain to her parents what had occurred at Blackstone Castle. She wanted no part of that, she was not responsible for it anyway. Boscha had made that mess all on her own and thus could explain it to her mother and father without her input. She trusted Ed and Em to set any half-truths straight._

_Once she was in the safety of her room she collapsed bonelessly onto her bed and stared up at the ceiling. There so many emotions running rampant through her that she didn’t even know where to start with dissecting them all. The one on the surface was unimaginable fury._

_Fury that she was being dangled as a trophy for Boscha’s ego in the upcoming tourney. Her stomach churned angrily. She was not a prize to be won, but Luz was right. Even if she somehow managed to escape Blight manor and run off with Luz, her parents and the rest of the Arrogàn family would never stop looking for them and Luz would be branded a criminal for taking her no matter how active and willing a participant Amity was, and if they ever were caught?_

_Her hands fisted into the sheets at the thought. Luz would be put to death for certain and that thought made her whole body seize up in terror. She could easily spend the rest of her life in a miserable marriage of convenience to a pig-headed, self-important noble like Boscha if only it meant she would not have to suffer the reality of Luz’s light being snuffed out in such a way._

_To lose her and know that she was responsible was more than Amity could ever bear._

_No, this was the only way they were ever going to get the betrothal annulled without the possibly fatal drawbacks of any of their other options. A noble’s word once given, especially to other nobles, was unbreakable. Boscha had locked herself and Amity into the declaration._

_She laid there a while, trying to focus on the rest of the evening instead._

_Seeing Luz in person again had done so much for her ever-devolving state of mind over the last few weeks she had spent confined to Blight manor. It was like someone had cut a hole in the waterskin that was her rising emotions and all tension had poured out in a sudden burst. Luz always had that effect on her. Her presence was always calming to Amity, she just had a certain way about her that set the witch at ease whenever she was in her presence. Knowing Luz was nearby allowed her to lower her guard. She could defend herself quite well now thanks to Luz, but knowing the knight was close let her relax in a way that usually wasn’t possible. Secure in the knowledge that Luz would always watch her back and be there to comfort her._

_That more than her confinement was what had made this so hard for her, knowing that Luz wasn’t close by._

_She sighed and closed her eyes, letting the angry frustrations bleed away to make room for the other emotions waiting to rise to the surface._

_The giddy lovesick elation she’d felt when she and Luz had been dancing in the ballroom and the knight had asked her to marry her. She couldn't compare that feeling to any other she had ever felt in all eighteen years of her life. She felt like such a love-struck little fool but she felt the truth in Luz’s words when she said she loved her. She knew she meant it just as much as she herself when she said them back._

_She hadn’t even considered the idea of marrying Luz, not because she wouldn’t want to. It just had seemed like such a faraway fantasy idea. Luz being human and not from the nobility._

_Once presented with the idea and the vague possibility it could become a reality, she had been surprised with just how strongly the idea had struck her, how vehemently she did want that. How right it sounded; the idea of marrying Luz._

_If they could just end her forced betrothal to Boscha, Amity would marry that woman without hesitation._

_It was a strange thing to know with such conviction, to have no doubt that's what she wanted._

_It sent a warm tingling all through her, completely burning away the anger from earlier._

_She was still laying there, smiling to herself when someone knocked on her door and she tensed but a moment later her sister was sticking her head into the room._

_“Hey, can I come in?” she asked as Amity sat up and nodded._

_“Yeah, are they angry?” she asked and her sister snorted._

_“That’s definitely one way to put it.” She nodded as she walked over and plopped down next to her. “They're furious, but they know that there's nothing they can do about it, not now.” She glanced at her sister and smirked. “I doubt you’d want them to anyway. Now, come on!” she said slapping Amity’s leg. “Luz proposed?” she asked excitedly leaning forward and Amity smiled to herself, nodding._

_“She did, and I said yes.”_

_Emira squealed excitedly and threw her arms around her sister, who grinned as she was pulled into a smothering hug._

_“I’m so happy for you!” Emira laughed as she shook them around and Amity laughed before finally pushing Emira’s arms off her._

_“Don’t get too excited yet… I still have a problem that needs to be taken care of first…,” she trailed off but she was still smiling, choosing to focus on the hope ahead of her, rather than the problems she was currently mired in._

_“Ah, yeah,” Emira huffed, but then remembered the small wrapped parcel in her pocket that Luz had given her and reached into the many ruffles of her dress. “I almost forgot, Luz gave me this to give to you.” She held it out and Amity smiled as she took it._

_“She mentioned she had something for me,” she mumbled as she unwrapped the piece of clothes bound tightly around whatever it was. Emira hummed, leaning in close to look._

_Amity gasped as the last layer came undone, revealing the gem-studded piece of metal that lay beneath._

_“Oh, it's so pretty…,” Emira said as they both gazed at it._

_It really was, especially the way the light of the candles in the room bounced off the many different colored stones embedded into the polished silver._

_Amity bit her bottom lip as tears threatened to spill over the longer she stared down at the gift._

_Titan, how she loved that woman._

_“Your proposal gift I take it since a ring might be a little obvious given your situation…” Emira smiled knowingly, watching as her sister got misty-eyed the longer she looked down at the hairpiece._

_"Yeah," she managed to choke out through the tears that had been building were starting to fall._

Amity smiled and slipped it into her hair, holding the sides back at the back of her head. Checking her hair in the mirror she smiled and after checking that it was dry, she folded her letter, carefully enfolding the small object into it for Lilith to deliver. 

She was still less than pleased with the news Lilith had delivered to her yesterday, but she understood the reasoning for it.

Luz was leaving Bonesburough.

She and Eda were going to travel back out into the wilds for more serious training up until the tourney. Eda claimed that there was too much in town to distract her and that she needed to buckle down and prepare for this very important tourney. Amity especially was a distraction to her, even if they were forced to stay apart. 

She didn’t like it. She would have no contact with the knight for the next two months, but Lilith insisted that it was the right move, and she trusted the raven knight’s judgment. It would also put Luz out of harm's way till then. There was no telling what underhanded things the redhead was capable of and Lilith apparently had heard rumors about the possibly underhanded ways that Boscha had gotten her brothers disinherited to become the heir to her family. All very suspicious but nothing that could be proven.

Either way, Luz would be unreachable until the day before the tourney, and at the very least, the witch wished to tell her goodbye before she went off to train.

Lilith promised that their own training was about to intensify as well. Luz wouldn’t be the only one working hard. 

~ ~  
“So, what do you think?” Viney asked as Luz carefully looked over the piece of paper in her hand and hummed thoughtfully.

“It looks great!” The knight grinned brightly and handed the papers back to Viney who grinned back. 

“Good, I actually have a few of the pieces made already that would only need slight alterations to them to make them match the rest," the smith explained as she stowed away the designs for Luz’s full suit of armor. “Mostly I just need to make the helmet and chest piece.”

“It looks so great!” Luz was practically vibrating with excitement at the design for her first full set of knight armor. 

Eda watched the two tiredly from her place in the back of Singe's saddle. They were supposed to be leaving and the younger knight had roused her at the crack of dawn, eager to get going.

They had already made three stops though. One to the apothecary, one to the archives, and finally the blacksmith’s, so she could say goodbye to her friends before they set off and finalize the designs that the smith had been working on for her armor for the tourney.

The older knight sighed tiredly and standing at the horse's feet, King also let out a loud aggravated snort. 

“Same…,” Eda grumbled to him as she watched the two continue to talk, Luz only seemed to grow more excited as they talked about the specifics of her armor. Eda shook her head fondly and glanced around town. 

Among the busy crowd that always inhabited the middle of the market district, she immediately caught sight of the solid white horse heading her way, her sister astride it 

"Not bad timing, Lily. We were just about to head out." Eda grinned as her sister pulled her horse to a stop next to Luz's.

"Good, Amity would have been quite cross with me if I had failed to deliver her goodbye letter," the knight said. Eda snorted at that.

"Yeah, Luz has one too." She turned toward the younger knight, still chatting amicably with the smith. "Hey, Luz, Lily is here!" 

Luz glanced over her shoulder at them and smiled before whipping back around to the blacksmith. 

"Looks good, Viney, but I have to go." The witch nodded, crossing her arms.

"I'll bring all the pieces to you when I'm finished, should only be a couple of weeks and then you can train in it." 

With a quick thanks and bye, Luz hurried over to the sisters, digging through her tunic as she did before finally pulling out a folded-up piece of paper and holding it up to Lilith. 

“This is for Amity,” she said with a sad smile as the knight took the paper with a nod. 

“She sent this for you,” Lilith handed her a paper of her own, tied with a piece of twine. Luz took it with the same sad smile still firmly in place and nodded, stowing it in her tunic for later reading when she was alone. Her final words in exchange with her sort - of betrothed before spring. 

“I take it you’re going to the usual place?” Lilith turned to her sister who nodded. 

“Yup, it's a good place to bunk down and work the kid.” Eda nodded. 

“You still haven’t told me where we’re going…,” Luz mumbled as she climbed into the saddle in front of Eda. 

“You’ll see when we get there…,” was all she said and Luz rolled her eyes at the expected response; Eda never changed. 

“Take care of Amity for me?” she asked, turning to Lilith, who graced the younger knight with a rare smile and nod.

“I will,” she said and Luz nodded, digging her heels into Singe’s side and took off trotting down the road toward the city gates, King running alongside. 

“See ya ‘round, Lily!” Eda gave a lazy wave over her shoulder as they rode away. The raven knight rolled her eyes as they rode away.

Lilith shook her head and pulled back on the reins before turning and directing her horse back toward Blight manor.

Amity would no doubt be waiting for her return and the delivery of her final correspondence with the human knight before the tourney began.

Lilith had plans of her own to enact. From what she had seen of both Luz and Amity, the raven knight had full confidence in the human. Her sister had never been cut of the right cloth for nobility, but with a sword, Eda was a force beyond reckoning, when she felt like actually taking things seriously, which wasn't often. 

She seemed to have managed to instill quite a lot of skill into her former apprentice though, who in turn, had taken on Amity. 

Lilith could watch the witch fight and know exactly where she had picked up some of her combat mannerisms. Things her sister was well known for, such as feinting back only to strike with the pommel of her sword. She'd never seen Luz do it, but Amity did, and the black-haired knight knew that she had to have picked it up from Luz.

Either way, If Luz possessed even a fraction of her sister's skill over years of training she was a top contender to win the tourney, but a little extra insurance never hurt, and Lilith had a plan. One she was sure Amity would approve of when she broached the subject to her.

She quickly returned to the manor and left her horse in the guards' care before making her way to Amity's room.

The witch quickly called for her to enter and Lilith had to suppress the knowing grin that threatened to break across her face. Amity had no doubt been waiting on bated breath for her return.

"They left?" She asked sadly and Lilith nodded, pulling out the slightly crumpled piece of folded paper and handed it over to her without a word.

Amity snatched it up and Lilith couldn't help the amused sound she made but the young noble did not notice as she unfolded it.

 _Amity,  
I wish I knew what to say here, knowing that I’m leaving and that this is the last time we’ll talk for a while. I’m going to miss you every day, much as I have been the last few weeks, but now I won’t even have your letters to look forward to. I’m going to do everything in my power to win this, so you can be freed from this arranged marriage and we can be together again. I was thinking, when all this is over, I want to find out more about the humans that were here before, if I’m the last one then there has to at least be something left for me to find, maybe you would want to go on that adventure with me after we get married? We could keep working on your training and maybe even take jobs together. I just know that you and I make a great team, Amity and I love you. Wait for me, I’ll be back before you know it.  
Yours always, Luz_

Amity could feel the tears welling up in the corners of her eyes and as they slid silently down her cheeks. She quickly wiped at her face. Luz was always straight to the point but always to the heart of the matter. 

That was an idea, the two of them traveling around the Isles, taking jobs while Luz looked for what, if anything that remained of the human race, to find some kind of closure for herself. 

The sound of a throat clearing made Amity look up, still wiping at her eyes. 

“Did you need something else, Lilith?” she asked, folding up the letter and the knight nodded.

“Yes. While I know you want to have full confidence in Luz and her skills... which are formidable,” Lilith was quick to cut off any protests from Amity. “There’s no reason that we can not add to our chances of success…” She crossed her arms behind her back as she looked down at the younger witch. 

Amity pursed her lips as she thought.

“What did you have in mind?” she asked after a moment.

Her eyes widened as Lilith explained her own plan. 

~ ~ ~ 

Eda directed the way as they rode through the dead winter landscape of the Boiling Isles countryside. After a few hours in a seemingly pointless direction, Eda finally directed her to a stop and Luz could see why. 

In front of them was a river and not far away from a formation of rocks that clearly hid a cave.

“Here we go, my old training ground,” the Owl knight grinned as she set her fists on her hips, looking around the clearing. “Lily and I used to train when we were kids and till I was about your age, then Lily joined the Emperor’s forces and I set off on my own…” 

Luz watched as the knight looked around with a distant gaze before she seemed to shake herself out of it and turned to Luz. 

“We’re gonna make camp in the cave and get started first thing in the morning,” Eda told her and Luz nodded.

“That’s what you said today than almost slapped me when I woke you up…” The human frowned at her but Eda just waved a hand dismissively. 

“I’m gonna go gather up some wood, make yourself useful…,” she called as she started to walk away, King trailing along after her. “After you’ve read your letter,” she called knowingly and Luz huffed, flushing at the smugness in her former mentor's voice but she was right. 

Luz really wanted to sit down and read Amity’s letter before she did anything. 

She found a rock and plopped down before pulling the rolled-up piece of paper out of her tunic. She pulled on the twine and immediately something slipped loose from the folds. She scrambled to catch it as it fell into her open palm.

Luz blinked down at the little pink and white seashell sitting in her hand for a moment before turning back to the letter and opening it. 

_“Luz,  
Do you remember this? You dug it out of the sand on the beach the first time we trained after you ran us ragged. I doubt it means the same thing to you as it does to me, but I‘ve kept it in my room ever since; it reminds me of you. It seems simple on the outside but I know better and I wish more people saw you the way I do. I’ve never known anyone who worked as hard as you do and at something that is so far from natural to you because it’s what you want and you do it without stepping on anyone to get it. I don’t say it as often as I should but I admire that in you, Luz. I wish I possessed the same innate and inextinguishable drive you do, even when everything is against you but I’m going to try. You won’t be the only one training, with any luck and Lilith’s exacting methods, I’ll make you as proud of me as I am of you. Try not to hurt yourself._

_All my love, Amity._

Some of the inked words blurred as water dripped onto the page. Luz sniffled and scrubbed at her face with the back of her arm, shell clutched tightly in her fist as she read over it several more times. The witch’s words engraved themselves into her heart. Ones that dug deeply into her skin, flayed through her muscles to pierce her at the core with the strength of them. No matter how much she rubbed at her face she couldn’t stop the tears from coming. 

That was how Eda found her when she returned, wood gathered beneath her arms, to find Luz sitting on a rock sobbing into a piece of paper with snot running out of her nose as she held onto a seashell in one hand. 

The older knight shook her head and turned, walking into the cave with King.

“Not even going to ask…,” she mumbled to herself. 

When Luz finally pulled herself together, though only just barely, she decided she was ready to face her old mentor again now that the tears had dried from her face. She carefully folded the letter and slipped it into the inner pocket of her tunic and she continued to run her fingers over the shell in her hand.

She sniffed and wiped at her nose with the back of her hand before pulling herself to her feet and followed her mentor into the cave, getting out of the cold.

Eda and King both were already sitting around the roaring fire, warming themselves. She glanced up at Luz as she approached.

"Better now?" she asked and Luz nodded, settling herself onto the ground beside King and the fire with a final sniff.

"Good, we start your advanced training first thing in the morning so for now, forget about your girl, it's only going to be distracting to you," she advised.

Luz frowned, but she knew Eda was right. She needed to buckle down and concentrate on her training. She had to beat Boscha if she wanted to break off the arranged marriage.

Amity would never be far from her mind though, no matter what she did, but she was determined to put her head down and do whatever she needed to do to make sure she didn't lose her.

"Right." She nodded.

"Good, so let's eat already, we got a big day of running, climbing and me beating you senseless to look forward to tomorrow!" The older knight grinned wickedly at her and Luz snorted. 

It was just like her being an apprentice all over again.

~ ~ ~

Amity was exhausted.

As anyone would be after fifty some odd laps around Blight manor in the cold. Her rapid breath came out in large, strained clouds in the cold winter air. Her lungs were on fire, but she worked to get her heart and breath back under control before she was forced into more pushups, which she could feel coming with a knowing dread. 

They had been at it all afternoon and she could feel her strength waning. 

“Come on, Mittens!” 

“I think that last lap was even slower!” 

If she had the breath to sigh, she would most certainly be sighing exasperatedly at her siblings right now as they sat over on the steps to the manor doors, watching her run her laps. 

“Perhaps the two of you would like to run as well?” Lilith shot them a look over her shoulder, quieting them down immediately. They were quite sure she could and would make them run if they didn’t pipe down. 

Lilith sniffed before turning her gaze back to Amity, she nodded toward the ground and Amity tried hard not to sigh as she dropped to the ground and started her tenth round of pushups. 

She had only thought Lilith had been tough before, when she said they were going to intensify her training she had meant it. Sweat was dripping down her forehead and off her chin into the grass as she tried to finish catching her breath. Every muscle in her body protested her movements but she forced it onward.

“Ten more, Amity.” Lilith's voice called and the witch sighed as she dropped to the ground and began her next set. Her arms quivered under her bodyweight and exhaustion.

After her fourth one, she collapsed to the ground, panting and dripping, unable to push herself back up.

“I think that’s enough for today,” Lilith called and Amity sighed in relief, or would if she had the breath for it. She just grumbled from her place laying face down in the dirt. 

“This is a disgrace.” A voice made them all look, except Amity, who only continued to lay in the dirt, catching her breath but she did scowl hotly to herself, refusing to turn and acknowledge the new arrival. She didn’t need to turn and look, she knew that voice and she refused to even look. 

Apparently, that did not work for Boscha as she started walking over to where Amity lay, the twins glared holes into the back of her head as she did.

“How much do you think it would cost so one of the cooks slips a little something extra into her meals?” Edric leaned in to whisper to his sister with a growl. 

“Considering how she treats them? Not much.” Emira grumbled back.

“This is just pathetic,” Boscha sneered as she stopped a few feet from her. Amity had to nearly bite through her tongue to keep a string of very unflattering words from slipping out. She couldn't slip and lose her one privilege. 

“If I didn’t already know you to slum yourself out to lesser creatures, I might have thought you smarter than this,” she sneered. Amity’s fists clenched, ripping up blades of grass in her grip

“Hey!” Edric shouted as the twins jumped up and Lilith bristled, glaring darkly at the redhead. “You don’t speak to her that way!” Emira growled.

“I’ll speak to her any way I please!” Boscha turned to snap at the twins, who glared back balefully before she turned back to Amity, and crouched down to be on her level, still she did not look at the knight. “If your pet is dumb enough to enter that tourney, I will skewer her alive,” she hissed.

Quicker than any of them could react, Amity whipped around and spat in the knight’s face. 

She growled angrily, standing up and wiping at the saliva in her face as Amity glared up at her with fire in her eyes.

“You’re not half the person Luz is,” she snarled. The redhead looked ready to come unhinged when Lilith stepped closer, making her presence known.

“I suggest you think very carefully about what you’re about to do…,” she muttered darkly as she and the other knight glared back at each other for a long tense moment. Everyone waited, wondering if swords would be drawn.

With an angry, choked noise she finally turned and stomped back inside, the twins quick to move out of her way.

Once she had vanished from sight they all breathed sighs of relief, save for Amity, who was staring hard at the ground, cursing herself.

“Fuck!” she slammed a fist on the ground. “Why did I do that!?” she yelled.

Lilith knelt down and laid a hand on her shoulder, drawing Amity’s gaze.

“I’m sorry, I just ruined everything,” she mumbled, voice choked. Lilith shook her head.

“I don’t think so…”

“Really? Cause she just spat in her face…,” Edric mumbled as the two came walking up. Amity squeezed her eyes shut.

“Which is exactly why everything is fine,” Lilith said. Amity looked up at that. “Boscha lets her pride and ego dictate everything she does, the chances she will go to your father and tell him Amity spat in her face are very unlikely,” Lilith assured them. 

“I should have controlled myself better…,” Amity grumbled as she finally sat up but Lilith only shook her head.

“Not even I would have been able to hold my tongue in that situation, Amity. Just be mindful going forwards, we still have much training to do.” 

Amity nodded and let her siblings pull her to stand. 

She hoped Luz’s training was coming along more easily than this. 

~ ~ ~

"You can climb faster than that!” Eda yelled down at her as she panted, digging her fingers into the stone of the cliff she was currently scaling. 

“You… didn’t have to… climb it!” Luz tried to yell between gasping breaths as she slowly made her way up the stone face. Her fingers were sore and her muscles ached.

“I’m not the one training to win the girl!” Eda called back down with a grin. 

Luz grumbled under her breath as she pulled herself up another couple of feet, scrambling for purchase on the rocky outcropping. This had been her life for the last three weeks.

Running, climbing, sparring, and a little dying. 

Just a touch though.

Tomorrow was her rest day, she could make it to then. she had to. She needed to be at her peak if she wasn’t only going to compete in her first tourney, but win it at that. Something she had not initially planned on, but Amity was counting on her and the little pink seashell in her pocket wrapped carefully in Amity’s final letter to her, was a constant weight against her chest inside her tunic to remind her of what she was fighting for.

For the love of her life and her freedom from an arranged marriage to someone, she couldn’t stand.

The thought spurred her on and she continued up the cliff till she finally crawled over the ledge and laid flat on her back at Eda’s feet, groaning.

“Not bad time, Kid,” the older knight praised. “Only took you thirty minutes,” she said and Luz grunted tiredly. “Ten-minute break, then we spar!” she clapped her hands together and Luz groaned again. Her arms felt like they weighed the same as a horse. She closed her eyes and sighed to herself, feeling her heartbeat in her arms and hands as she laid there, soaking up the cold winter breeze as it blew over her sweaty forehead as she wondered how Amity was doing.

She missed her, a lot.

She didn’t realize how much she’d grown accustomed to falling asleep with Amity snuggled into her side out in the stables after they had finished studying runes or their near-daily trips to the market or the archives and all their training days. Amity had become so woven into the fabric of her life over the last seven months that it was strange to have spent so long without her now and she felt the absence keenly.

She sighed, reaching up, laboriously, to lay her hand over the shell tucked safely into her tunic’s inner pocket. She took comfort in its presence, a reminder of her promise and Amity’s faith in her. She would not let her down. 

“You look like you’re having fun.”

Luz’s eyes popped open to stare up at Viney looking down at her with a grin from the back of a griffin. 

“Viney!” The knight popped up to sit with a smile. “How do you find us?”

“I rode back and gave her directions while you were passed out the other day,” Eda said, hand on her hip.

“I brought your armor.” The smith grinned and Luz couldn’t help but squeal in excitement, jumping up, exhaustion forgotten for a moment as Viney climbed down from the back of the beast and began hauling metal pieces out of the creature’s saddlebags and handing them to Luz before finally handing her a solid metal helmet.

“Oooh” Luz’s grin stretched across her whole face as she held it in her hands.

“Well? Don’t leave us in suspense, Kid. Suit up!” Eda flung a hand at her. Luz didn’t need to be told twice and gathered up all the pieces and dashed off into the trees. 

It was about twenty minutes later that she finally came back, heralded by the quiet clinking of armor.

“Well, how do I look?” she asked. Holding out her metal bracer-covered arms. 

Eda’s jaw was tight as she gazed at her former apprentice in full armor as they rained for the coming tourney and felt hot pride shoot through her chest, though she did her best not to let it show on her face, though she feared she was probably failing miserably.

“Like a knight, Luz.” The Owl knight grinned and she and the smith grinned at her as she seemed to puff up, even beneath the armor. 

Eda’s grin then turned wicked.

“Now we spar in full armor,” she declared and Luz slumped, groan echoing out from inside her helmet while the other two laughed.

Luz pressed a hand to her chest, where the shell still lay beneath the layers of metal and cloth, and squared herself. 

“Okay, let’s do it!


	26. Chapter 26

The months passed and the snows of winter had slowly, but surely melted away and fresh, green blades of grass and flowers had begun to pop up across the fields of the Isles as the trees shook the ice from their branches and began to bud as the last chills of winter blew out, chased away by the warmer airs of spring, though it still possessed a sharp chill to it in the early mornings or late evenings as the sun rose or fell. 

It was any other day in the Apothecary for Willow. Tomorrow was the first day of spring and soon she would be able to go back out into the fields and find the fresh herbs that had been depleted over the course of the long, hard winter. Gus sat next to her on a stool as she categorized the bottles on one of the shelves as the dark clouds that had been gathering all day rumbled overhead, threatening rain, but had not yet released any of the coming storm. She felt it though, the air was heavy and the smell of rain hung in the air with the promise of the downpour that was soon to come. 

“What does this one do?” Gus held up a tall glass bottle filled with an acidic-looking green liquid.

“It melts skin,” she said casually with a glance over her shoulder to see what he was looking at. Making a face, Gus carefully set the bottle back down on the counter.

“What would anyone even need that for?!” He threw out an arm at it. Willow chuckled, turning and picking up the bottle before the younger witch could knock it over and make a mess that she really didn’t want to try and clean up.

“You never know,” she laughed and Gus just gave her a look. 

Just as she turned the shop door opened and she looked up.

“Welcome to-” Her words petered out as her eyes fell on a familiar figure standing in the doorway, grinning brightly at her.

“Luz!” she yelled, Gus whipped around, smacking into her and causing her to nearly drop the bottle, she scrambled, fingers fumbling for it before it could splatter on the ground. She breathed a sigh of relief as her hand clenched around it. 

“I have returned!” the human knight announced, arms thrown out wide. A mere three seconds later Gus flung himself into her arms, followed closely by Willow, after setting the bottle down out of reach. Luz squeezed them tightly to her as they all grinned.

“You’re back!” Gus squealed and Luz laughed. 

“How was the training?” Willow asked when she was finally released from the crushing hug. She wasn’t sure she even needed to really ask. Maybe it was because she hadn’t seen her in over two months, but the knight seemed to fill out the sleeves of her tunic a little more than she did before.

“It was awful,” Luz laughed. “Eda worked me to the bone almost every day except the last few days where I finally got to rest… all I did was sleep.” 

“You look great though!” Gus held his hands up, gesturing to her and Luz grinned, chest puffed up proudly. She was definitely a little thicker in places it seemed than when she had left.

“Thanks, it's been nothing but two solid months of running, sparring, climbing, and picking up everything you can find in a forest…,” she trailed off, rubbing one of her biceps from some phantom pain only she could feel. “I had to carry King on a two-hour hike…,” she grumbled under her breath. 

“So, you think you’re ready for the tourney tomorrow?” Willow asked and Luz grinned

“I’m ready, I’m going to wipe the floor with Boscha!” She held up a fist and her friends grinned. 

“Since we’ve never actually seen you fight I can’t wait to watch you compete, Luz!” Gus bounced excitedly and the knight smiled at him. 

“It should be interesting, this is my first tourney after all…,” she trailed off.

“And the stakes couldn’t be higher…,” Willow reminded her with a frown. Automatically Luz;’s hand reached up to lay over her tunic and the little seashell fit snugly in its inner pocket and nodded. 

“Yeah, not exactly how I planned it but I have to win, no matter what, losing isn’t an option.” She frowned, the hand at her side clenched into a fist. She wouldn't let Amity down, she couldn’t. 

She didn’t know what she would do if she did. 

“You haven’t by chance seen or heard anything from Amity, have you?” she asked, looking between the two. They shook their heads. 

“Emira and Edric have been in a few times to tell us how she’s doing. She’s okay, but she’s still confined to Blight manor though Emira said she was going to be allowed to attend the tourney, though, under heavy guard,” Willow informed her. 

Luz nodded, pursing her lips. She kind of figured as much, but she still wasn’t happy to hear it, which only solidified the plan she had been forming the last couple of days. It was very ill-advised and even Eda would tell her it was a stupid idea with everything that was at stake, she was sure. She couldn’t help herself though, she had to do it if she could. 

“Do you have a blanket?” she turned to Willow and asked suddenly. 

Willow just blinked at her.

~ ~   
Amity drummed her fingers on her vanity with an anxious energy that she couldn’t seem to dispel no matter what she did. There were just too many roiling emotions bubbling up in her to calm. She’d been a nervous wreck all evening knowing what was coming tomorrow.

The tourney.

Tomorrow was the first day of spring and by the end of the day her fate would be decided; one way or another. 

She sighed and looked at herself in the mirror as she prepared for bed. Lilith had advised getting to sleep early so she would be well-rested but how was she supposed to sleep with tomorrow looming over her, a cloud of uncertainty? 

Rain poured down outside her window in heavy sheets that one couldn’t even see through if it were daylight, much less the dead of night. The occasional flash of lightning lit her room in bright, white flashes and the window panes trembled with every bellow of thunder that accompanied them. She listened to it, trying to let it soothe her jangled nerves but all it did was make her all the more anxious, every cracking bolt of lightning made her jump. 

With a sigh, she reached up and pulled the gemstone studded hairpiece out of her hair, letting the green strands fall as she held it in her hands, watching as the firelight of the nearby candles bounced off it in flickering orange hues, lighting up the many, tiny facets of the stones. 

Two months and she hadn’t heard from Luz since the day before she had left. The human knight was never far from her mind though. How could she be when all Amity wanted was to be free of this place and back with her?

She sighed and set the ornate hairpiece down on the table before she stood, stretching out her stiff and tired limbs. Lilith had put a stop to her training a few days ago, letting Amity rest and recuperate before everything that was coming. She turned toward her bed but jumped when the window suddenly burst open, a gust of wind blowing in rainwater and causing the curtains to billow inward. She let out the breath she didn’t know she had been holding and quickly moved to close them. Once tightly shut, she stepped back and moved toward her bed. 

“Amity,” the quiet call of her name sent shivers up her spine and she swore for a moment that her heart had stopped as she froze in place at the breathy whisper of a call that made fear lance through her. 

She whipped around and the air directly in front of her seemed to shimmer briefly before Luz appeared, standing in the middle of her bedroom and grinning at her brightly, the rest of her form coming into view as a blanket bearing a brightly glowing, blue glyph fell from her shoulders and pooled around her feet in a heap of soaked fabric. 

Amity’s breath hitched, stuck solidly in her throat, she was sure she wasn’t even breathing as she gazed back at a dripping wet Luz, smiling so brightly it seemed to light up the dimness of the room, hell, it could have banished the storm were they outside. 

Her mouth opened and closed soundlessly. Try as she might, she couldn’t force any of the many words clogging her throat out past her lips.

“Speechless I see?” Luz cocked her head, her smile morphing into a knowing grin and the words seemed to knock Amity out of her paralyzed state.

“Luz…,” It came out as nothing more than a wisp of a breath, and the knight’s grin tempered into something softer, gentler.

“Hey,” she said with equal, low reverence as she gazed back at her, and then Amity darted forward and slammed into her so hard she knocked all the air from her lungs and sent them both tumbling to the floor with a muted, thumping, crash as they fell to the floor in a wet heap. A sudden boom of thunder masking the noises. 

Luz groaned as her would-be-betrothed laid squarely atop her chest, squeezing all the remaining air from her lungs as she wrapped her arms tightly around her chest and buried her face into her neck.

“Missed you too,” Luz managed to wheeze out, patting Amity’s back awkwardly. She paused as she felt something warm and wet on her neck that she knew immediately wasn’t the rainwater dripping from her hair and realized that Amity was crying. She steeled herself and with a grunt, lifted them both up to sitting. First, so she could breathe again, and second so she could better wrap her arms around the weeping noble, crushing her to her chest.

“It’s okay, I’m here…,” Luz hummed softly into a pointed ear, listening to the quiet cries in her shoulder and rubbing a hand soothingly up and down Amity’s back as her own eyes grew misty with all the emotions suddenly hitting her now that Amity was back in her arms. She buried her nose in Amity’s soft green hair and inhaled deeply. How badly Luz had missed her. Being in her arms again was like cool water on a burn. The wound wouldn’t yet be healed by any means but oh, how it took the sharp sting out of it. 

They sat there long enough that Luz’s legs had started to fall asleep from the pressure of Amity laying across her thighs when the witch finally leaned back, eyes wet and glistening with the remains of her tears, the whites rimmed in red.

She pulled back to reach up and cup Luz’s cheeks between her hands as she stared back into her eyes. A flash of lightning caught her golden eyes and Luz sucked in a sharp breath at the look she found there. 

“I missed you,” Amity finally mumbled as Luz reached up to cover one of the warm hands pressed against her face with her own.

“I missed you too,” she mumbled and before she could utter another word, Amity leaned forward and captured her mouth in a long, languid kiss and Luz squeezed her all the closer, her free hand fisting into the back of Amity’s nightdress. She’d never thought it was possible to love and miss someone as much as she’d missed Amity over the last couple of months. 

When Amity finally saw fit to release her they were both breathless and panting as their foreheads pressed together. 

“What are you doing here?” Amity mumbled after a few long, silent moments of simply enjoying her lover's close proximity once more.

“I just got back to town today and I had to see you…,” Luz said quietly.

“Do you have any idea what will happen to you if someone finds you here?” Amity hissed, though it was hollow of any real anger. She knew the dangers as much as she was sure Luz did, but she was so glad to see her she couldn’t find it in herself to be cross with Luz’s lapse in judgment. 

“I know… but I had to come anyway. I just missed you so much and I had to know how you were,” Luz mumbled.

“Better now that you’re here…,” she sighed happily, but she knew this moment couldn’t last. If someone found her here, everything would be for nothing and she would lose her in more ways than the one that already hung in the balance. “...but you have to go,” Amity said as she pulled back to better look her in the eyes.

“I know.” Luz nodded, resigned. She had no illusions that this would be a long reunion, but it was one she desperately needed all the same, and if the way Amity clung tightly to her was any indication, so did she. 

They quietly climbed to their feet but didn't part just yet as they stood there in quiet, comfortable silence, Amity reached up and pushed her sopping wet hair out of her face. Thunder rumbled outside and rain continued to pour down in buckets as she studied the knight's scarred face, Luz watching her just as intensely, as though trying to sear every soft slope of her face and the bright, sharpness of her eyes into her memory. 

The quiet was finally broken by Luz, as it so often was. 

“I’m going to beat her,” she promised as she pulled her hands back to take hold of Amity’s and gave them a squeeze. The looming tourney was suddenly back on the forefront of Amity’s mind, not that it was ever far from her thoughts. 

Along with Boscha’s lingering threat to kill Luz given the first opportunity.

“I know, I know how good you are, Luz,” Amity agreed but the look on her face spoke of her uncertainty and Luz frowned.

“Why do I feel a ‘but’ coming…,” she said and Amity shook her head.

“No, no ‘buts’ it's just… I want you to make me a promise.” 

“Anything.” She eagerly nodded. 

“Promise me that… if there's nothing you can do to win… you’ll yield,” she finally said.

“What!?” Luz yelped, jerking back a step, shocked at what Amity had just suggested. “You think I can’t win?” she frowned.

“No, I believe in you, you know I do!” Amity was quick to assure her, taking a step closer to close the distance Luz had put between them. “It’s just… anything can happen in these tourney’s, Luz, and… I’d rather end up married to Boscha than spend the rest of my life knowing I got you killed.” 

Luz’s mouth worked soundlessly, trying to think of something to say to that but Amity was quicker.

“Please, Luz, I couldn’t live with myself knowing that if something happened to you it was all my fault...” 

“Well, maybe I’d rather die than spend the rest of my life without you!” she rumbled angrily at what Amity was asking of her. 

“Luz!” 

“No! I can’t make that promise, Amity, to give up?!” she nearly shouted. If not for the pounding rain and thunder she surely would have been discovered by now. 

“I'm not asking you to just give up, only if you know that you can’t win! Boscha will kill you at the first chance she gets, even if she could win without doing so!” She pleaded and Luz shook her head vehemently.

“No, I can’t, I’d rather -,” she started only for Amity to cut her off sharply. 

“If you love me you’ll promise me!” Amity snapped back and Luz froze, staring back at her with wide eyes. Amity hated that she had to even say it but Luz’s stubborn refusal to see reason left her with little other option. 

If Luz lost, how could she spend the rest of her life not only married to Boscha but knowing that she had gotten Luz killed on top of it? She couldn’t.

Maybe it was underhanded and she hated that it had to come to this, but she would do whatever she needed to preserve Luz’s life. Even if Luz herself didn’t like it. 

Luz stared back at her, jaw tight and her grip on Amity’s hands even tighter before she finally managed to growl out.

“That’s not fair…” Dark, earthy eyes trained on bright gold and lightning flashed. 

“I know,” Amity agreed. “But I love you and your life is more important to me than fairness and if I have to be a little underhanded, I will,” she told her and Luz grumbled something under her breath as she looked anywhere but Amity, more than a little angry by what she was doing.

“Luz,” Amity mumbled, leaning heavily against her and tucking her head under the aggravated knight's chin. “Please, if you love me, promise me that I won’t have to watch you die if you lose.” She squeezed Luz’s hands still entwined with hers. “Don’t ask that of me…” 

Luz growled deep in her throat, she understood where Amity was coming from, even if she didn’t like it. She couldn't bear the idea of having to watch Amity die a bloody death if their places were reversed. She would rather she live, even if they couldn’t be together. They were silent for a long moment as Amity waited for her to speak before Luz finally spat out the words that she wanted to hear.

“I promise…,” Luz finally managed to bite out against her will and she felt Amity sag against her with relief. 

“Thank you…,” she muttered, pressing a kiss to her neck. Luz grumbled something under her breath as she squeezed Amity to her tightly. She had no intention of getting to that point. She was going to beat that smarmy, arrogant noble into the ground and win Amity’s freedom for her like she promised she would. 

They stayed that way for a little while longer, wrapped up in each other and trying to forget the rest of the world outside this room existed before Amity finally pulled out of her grip so she could look up at her.

“You need to go…,” she said even though it was the last thing she wanted. What she wanted was to get Luz out of her sopping wet clothes and crawl into bed with her and let her hold her till the sun came up but that could result in nothing good. They were really pushing the limits of good sense already by Luz being here as it was. 

“Right…,” Luz mumbled, stepping completely out of her hold, their hands lingered briefly as she stepped back before slipping free completely. She bent down and grabbed the wet blanket off the floor and flung it around her shoulders with a heavy slap before turning back to look at the witch. 

Amity worried her bottom lip between her teeth, thinking. Luz watched her quietly, she knew that look. Amity was trying to decide if she should say something or not and Luz waited to see if she would enlighten her but after a moment she stopped, seemingly deciding to keep it to herself. The knight frowned but she said nothing as Amity stepped forward to lay a final fierce but brief kiss to her lips. 

“Be careful…,” she breathed against her mouth and Luz nodded before stepping away and opening the window, letting the storm blow rain inside onto the floor. She pulled the blanket over her head and pressed a hand to the glyph on the fabric, it glowed briefly before it and Luz vanished in a brief shimmer of the air, and then she was gone, leaving a puddle of water on the floor.

Amity closed the window behind her and sighed to herself, feeling cold again in the wake of Luz’s departure. 

She wanted to tell her, but Lilith had been absolute in her order not to breathe a single word to anyone that didn’t need to know. The only people privy to her and the raven knight's machinations were Edric and Emira and only because it was necessary. Luz’s decision to come here tonight, despite the danger, told her that she had made the right decision in not telling her. There was no way to know how Luz would react with that information. 

“Please don’t get yourself killed…,” she mumbled aloud to herself before finally turning and crawling into bed. Morning would come before she knew it and whether she liked it or not. 

Luz dropped to the ground and hurried along through the slushy grounds of Blight manor and out the gates, slipping past the two drenched and aggravated looking guards, the pounding sound of the rain covering her footsteps as she rushed back to the inn. The illusory glyph drawn on the blanket keeping her form obscured from all. 

She threw off the blanket once she was out of sight of the manor, the heavy, wet material suffocating her and the cold night air on her drenched clothes had her chilled to the bone

She sighed to herself as she walked into the inn and slicked her hair back out of her eyes, water running in rivers down her face and creating a puddle with each step she took as it dripped off her clothes.

It was late and the place was quiet, though never totally empty. There were always at least a few people sitting around drinking at any given time of day or night. It had been more than full when she had arrived that morning with all the knights in town for the Emperor’s tourney. She and Eda had taken some time to scope out the competition.

Boscha was her main concern but the likelihood that she would face her early on was unlikely and she would need to win some other matches both in the joust and the duel matches before she would end up fighting the redhead.

There was also the very real possibility that Boscha could lose to someone else and then they would have ‘ownership’ of Amity. She and Eda had no real plan yet for how to deal with that. The Blight family was rich and powerful, getting Amity back from anyone else would prove just as impossible as it currently was from Boscha. 

No, it was best to just defeat as many early on as she could and worry about that if it became an issue; one thing at a time. 

She hurried up the stairs to her and Eda’s room. She wanted to get out of her wet clothes and warm again before she laid down to sleep. 

She felt leagues better now that she had gotten to see and hold Amity after so long but she was still rubbed the wrong way by the promise she had been strong-armed into making. 

She knew Amity believed in her but it rankled her that she felt the need to ask it of her, that she would cast doubt over Luz’s ability to win the night before the tourney. She tried to see it from her point of view. She would do whatever she had to to keep Amity from a grisly and needless death too. 

If Luz knew anything though, it was that nothing was certain, she could very well die, it happened sometimes in tourneys. She believed that she could win though, that someone like Boscha, an arrogant, self-serving noble, who obviously believed everyone was beneath her and had everything handed to her her whole life would beat Luz, who had done nothing but work toward this her whole life.

Hell, she had to work for every modicum of respect she even had, always being cast into doubt and suspicion for her humanity; automatically the lesser for it.

No, she was going to beat Boscha. Maybe she wouldn’t win the tourney, but she didn’t need to. There would be other tourney’s, she just needed to beat her; she needed Amity. 

That was why it stung. That it was Amity, who she had been training tirelessly all this time for, who had made the suggestion that if she might lose to just surrender. It was a slight sour note in their otherwise joyful reunion. 

She sighed as she climbed the stairs. Eda was probably long asleep by now, having plopped down on a bed the minute they had finished looking over all the knights in the inn and down at Hexside. She’d recognized a few and waved off most of them, assuring Luz that she was better and there was no need to worry about them. 

Looking at some of the large, burly, armor-plated men, Luz wasn’t so sure about her old mentor’s assessment of that but she trusted Eda with her life. Not in a gambling situation but definitely in a fight!

So she was surprised when she opened the door to the room and found the older knight still awake, sitting on her bed, leaned against the wall with King, curled up in a tight ball of poofy black fur, laying at her feet.

She looked up as Luz shut the door behind her. Her gaze roved over Luz, taking in her soaking wet appearance for a moment.

"You were out late…," she hummed and Luz chuckled nervously and shrugged.

"You know, haven't seen Gus or Willow in a while. We got caught up chatting…," she said as she moved over to her bed and started stripping off her saturated tunic.

Eda hummed and then when Luz turned around the older knight was standing behind her, looking suspicious.

"That right…?" she asked as she leaned in close and if she hadn't already been dripping wet, she probably would have been sweating as the Owl knight took a sniff, making Luz jump

"What-?" Luz.

"Is that why you smell like fancy perfume?" Eda asked, leaning back to level her former apprentice with a hard look. 

"Uhhh…" Luz stalled and Eda sighed violently, reaching up to pinch the bridge of her nose.

"You went and saw her, didn't you?" It wasn't really a question.

"Yes," Luz mumbled guiltily, there was no point in lying when she knew that Eda knew and Eda knew that Luz knew she knew. 

"Luz…," she groaned tiredly, pulling her hand away from her face to glare at the younger knight. 

"I had to see her!" She threw up her hands helplessly. "I… I had to know she was okay!" 

"Luz, that was the stupidest thing you could have done!" Eda snarled at her, planting both hands on her hips as she glared down at her former apprentice. "do you know what would have happened to you if they found you there?!" she barked, making the human flinch. Before she could answer the obviously rhetorical question Eda was yelling at her again. “They would have killed you, Kid and they would have been in the right for doing it cause you broke in!”

“I know! I just…,” she trailed off, shoulders sagging. “I missed her so much, Eda…,” she sighed and plopped down on the bed, burying her face in her hands. 

“What you did was monumentally stupid, Luz. You put everything you both have been doing at risk…,” she scolded and Luz flinched, face still buried in her hands. Eda glared down at her, watching the sodden knight for a long moment. 

She heard the older witch sigh and then a hand clapped on her shoulder, making her look up at the older witch as she peered down at her with annoyance but a quiet understanding.

“What you did was stupid, but you didn’t get caught and it won’t be happening again...” Luz was quick to nod at this. “... so let's forget about it and get some sleep. You got a big day tomorrow, Kid. You got a noble to beat into the dirt!” Eda grinned at her and Luz felt herself smile back. 

Eda always knew what to say to make her feel better. 

“Right,” she mumbled. 

The older knight gave her shoulder a good squeeze before letting go and moving back to her bed on the other side of the room.

“Good, now go get dried off. You look like a drowned rat,” she snorted, flopping down and turning away from Luz to lay on her side. King grunted as the bed shifted. 

Luz nodded to herself and spent the next few minutes getting herself as dry as she could before crawling under the covers. She sighed and reached over to grab something sitting on the bedside table and held it up in front of her face.

The shell.

Its pale pink colors were muted in the orange light of the nearby candles but they bounced off the polished shell where Luz had started to wear it slick and shiny under the constant worrying of her thumb over the last few months. 

She wasn’t going to lose. Not to Boscha and not to anyone else. She couldn’t afford to. Her and Amity’s future was hanging in the balance.

She clenched her fist around the tiny shell and sighed. She would do whatever she had to. 

“Will you go to sleep already,” Eda grunted at her without so much as moving. “I can feel your gross ‘yearning’ from here,” She said and Luz scoffed but leaned over and blew out the candle on the table. 

“Night, Eda.” 

The witch grumbled something in response that sounded like a grumpy version of ‘night’. 

Luz’s hand clenched around the shell in her fist and held it to her chest a while before finally drifting off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay, this isnt the last chapter, one more. 
> 
> I'm pretty sure...


	27. Chapter 27

Luz’s morning started in a rush with the first rays of light that streamed in through the windows onto her face. The second her eyes blinked open she was struck with the weight of the day and she jumped up, throwing back the blankets, and quickly began getting dressed. She created enough banging and thumping that she eventually woke up both Eda and King, who grumbled at her for all the noise she was making and pulled the blankets up further over her head, trying to blot out the loud sound and the bright sunlight filtering in through the open windows onto her twisted up face.

“Come on Eda, the tourney!” Luz shouted as she pulled her tunic on over her head and the other knight grunted tiredly. 

“Yeah, yeah, I’m getting there,” she grumbled, then winced as the room was filled with the sound of metal banging around as Luz started strapping her armor into place. With a sigh, Eda sat up and let out a jaw-cracking yawn, blinking tiredly over at her former apprentice as she got ready.

“I see you’re rearing and ready to go…,” she mumbled, smacking her lips and squinting against the harsh light. 

“Yeah, I gotta go and meet Viney so we can get me registered,” Luz said distractedly as she strapped her arm bracers in place. Eda made a noise of acknowledgment as Luz continued getting dressed and muttered to herself as she managed to throw back the blankets and sit up.

When all her armor was firmly strapped into place Luz carefully tucked the little pink seashell into the pocket of her tunic beneath her chest plate and patted it gently. For good Luck.

“Alright, I’m ready!” she announced as Eda finally climbed out of bed to stand in front of her. 

The armor fit Luz like a glove. Dark gray metal-plated overtop itself in an obvious wolf theme. The greaves and gauntlets all tapered into twin points at the tops, reminiscent of wolf ears and each layer was outlined with a stripe of bright violet. The theme was completed by the thick fur shawl that lined the back of her neck and shoulders as well as the wolf head helmet, sharp metal fangs hanging over the slit where Luz’s eyes would be. She cut a rather imposing figure if Eda did say so herself but she didn’t. Just admired her former apprentice with a silent pride for a moment. 

“Alright, Kid. Remember what I taught you. Be smart about this. I know you got a lot riding on it but don’t do anything to unbelievably stupid, you wanna keep your life even if you lose your dignity, trust me, I know,” the older knight snorted, what incident she was referring to Luz wasn’t sure but she couldn’t help but bristle at the comment, recalling her conversation with Amity the night before and she grunted something under her breath.

Eda seemed to notice her shift in mood as she frowned, mouth screwing up ever so slightly.

“What?” she asked and Luz shook her head, clutching her helmet under her arm.

“It’ just… reminds of something Amity said last night…,” she trailed off and Eda looked at her head cocked and patiently waiting for whatever seemed to be weighing on Luz’s mind. She didn’t need to wait long. “She made me promise that if I couldn't win, I’d yield…,” she grumbled sourly.

“What’s the issue with that?” Eda looked at her, and Luz jerked back to better look at her, sputtering.

“What do you mean what’s the issue? She-…,” she trailed off trying to form some sort of coherent thoughts when Eda seemed to catch on and leaned back to give Luz a certain look, both hands fisted on her hips.

“She doesn’t want to watch you throw away your life?” Eda finished for her, giving the younger knight an unimpressed look.

“Eda, you don’t understand...,” she started and the Owl knight held up a hand, stopping her.

“I understand plenty, you’re all bent out of shape cause you think that anything short of dying in this fight makes you a coward and the fact that Amity doesn't want to see you skewered like a fish on a spear means she doesn't think you’re strong enough, is that about right?” The knight leaned down to level Luz with a fierce look.

She couldn't look the older knight in the eye for longer than a moment before turning away and mumbling something under her breath. Eda sighed and leaned back, reaching up to pinch the bridge of her nose. She found herself doing that a lot ever since this fiasco had started.

“Luz, listen to me,” Eda said, reaching out to lay a hand on her shoulder and drawing Luz’s gaze up to her. “I know this is important to you, it’s important to both of you, so don’t you think Amity would only ask that of you if it were even more important to her that you not die?” Eda asked her and Luz frowned, mouth screwing up. Eda wasn’t finished yet though. “As far as being a coward goes, let me tell you, no knight ever proved anything by dying a pointless death. You letting yourself get stabbed full of holes rather than throwing in the towel won’t accomplish shit except end your life and then make Amity spend the rest of hers having had to watch it happen and still end up married to that pig-headed little noble.” Eda’s hand on her shoulder squeezed tightly and Luz went slack, anger and defiance draining out of her quickly.

“But if I lose…,” she started only for Eda to cut her off

“Kid, you think I’ve won every fight I've ever been in? I’m great, don’t get me wrong, but I’ve had my ass handed to me a time or two but I lived to tell about it, to come back all the better, you can’t do that if you get shoved in the ground so…” 

“If I lose, what good am I?!” she barked, stopping Eda cold. “This is what I've been working toward my whole life, Eda! Losing would be like… showing them that they were right!” She shouted and Eda jerked back. “That I’m just a worthless human!” She threw out her arms desperately. 

Eda frowned down at her former apprentice for a long moment as Luz stared back and her amber eyes hardened.

“Listen to me, Luz.” She set both hands on her shoulders. “There’s always going to be people who won’t see you as anything other than a ‘human’ no matter what you do or how many tourney’s you win or dragon’s you slay.” She stared hard into the younger knight’s eyes. “That’s how it's always going to be, trust me, Luz. You gotta do your own thing and not worry about that or you’re never gonna stop being worried about it.” 

Luz’s jaw clenched as she thought about her old mentor’s words. She wanted everyone to see her for what she could do, not what she was, but Eda was right. No matter what she did there were always going to be people like Boscha, like all the villages she had to deal with after her mother had died or even all the ones since before she came to Bonesburough. Nothing she ever did was going to make a difference to them, so why try?

“But… what about Amity… if I lose…,” she mumbled but Eda was quick to cut that thought off at the pass. 

“We’ll figure that out if it comes to it, but you can’t do anything if you’re dead.” The Owl knight smirked as she finally pulled her hands off Luz’s shoulders to cross her arms over her chest and Luz sighed. Her mentor was right, there was no point worrying about it right now.

“Alright,” she nodded.

“Good! Now get outta here already! King and I will be watching and cheering you on.” She grinned and Luz nodded.

“Right, I’m off!” she turned and bolted out the door, leaving her chuckling mentor in her wake.

The inn wasn’t usually packed full even at this time of the morning but with all the people in town for the tourney, the many people crammed inside hardly surprised her. She saw several people dressed in armor and fighting gear like her, and they looked back at her as she passed, sizing her up. She walked through quickly, shoulders back, and tried to look as intimidating as she could, though it may have fallen a little short if the way a few of them chuckled at her was anything to go by. She grunted, cheeks red, and ignored them as she left. 

Singe was waiting outside for her, tied to a post and already outfitted with the simple armor Viney had made for him. 

She hauled herself into the saddle and quickly made her way toward the blacksmiths. The black towers of smoke usually pouring out of the forge were absent today since Viney would be at the tourney but Luz had long learned the way now by heart anyway. The market was always busy but today it was packed full of people and she had to carefully walk Singe through the roving crowd, trusting that most people would get out of the horse's way.

Viney was waiting out front for her when she arrived and the blacksmith grinned at her.

“I was starting to wonder if you’d backed out,” she laughed and Luz huffed indignantly. 

“Not in your dreams.” The knight grinned back and Viney chuckled. 

“Well, you ready?” she asked, head cocked and a fist planted on her hip. Luz nodded. 

“I am.” She nodded. 

“Let’s go get you registered then, I got a pretty sack of gold riding on you to win your first three matches, ya know?” Viney informed her as she climbed atop the griffin waiting nearby. 

“You bet on me?” Luz blanched and Viney laughed.

“Of course I did! I know what you can do, and I know that all them other stuffy nobles will be betting against you just because you’re human. I’m gonna make a killing when you wipe the floor with their sponsored knights!” She grinned wickedly at Luz as they made their way out of town toward the massive field where the tourney was taking place. 

They could hear the rising noise the closer they got to the large tents set up all across the field and the many people and armored knights all walking around. 

Luz straightened in the saddle and looked down at her helmet hanging from the straps and took a deep breath as they rode toward the registration tent. 

She was as ready as she was ever going to be. 

~ ~ 

She was ready.

Or at least she hoped she was. 

She glanced warily at the two guards escorting her and her siblings to the tourney grounds. Jerbo, and another of the guards she wasn’t very familiar with. Hopefully, things would go as smoothly as they had planned. 

The grounds were crawling with people from peasants and nobles to the many knights roaming around in their armor. Amity watched them especially close, the way Lilith had taught her, looking for any sort of weakness. Knights often had old injuries that hampered them and if one looked close enough you could spot the carefully hidden sign of a limp or a side favored. She had practiced with Lilith, who after long bouts of sparring would begin to favor her right side from a time when she had broken her left arm as a child.

She tried to focus on her assessment of the competition and not worry so much about what was coming but her mind was distant, too many conflicting emotions and thoughts running through her mind all at once and at a rapid pace.

Mostly her thoughts were turning to Luz, as they so often did these days.

She knew the knight hadn’t exactly been thrilled with her when she had left last night after she had made her promise she would yield if it looked like she was going to lose and die. She could feel the tension in Luz when she had kissed her goodbye and knew she wasn’t happy but Amity knew her. Luz had a tendency to jump off the nearest cliff if only to prove her point.

Amity did not want that cliff to be her and at the bottom Boscha’s sword. 

Something nudged her and she startled, looking up to see her brother looking at her knowingly as they walked around a corner to walk through a deserted area between two tents on the way to their designated viewing area and gave her a subtle nod. She took a deep breath and nodded.

The twins shared a look and then Edric reached under his tunic and pulled out a rock he had stashed away when they had left the manor. He took two quick steps forward and reared back his arm before bringing it crashing down on the back of the second guard's head. 

He crumpled like a sack of potatoes and laid still, face down in the grass. 

“Nice shot, Ed.” His twin nodded and he grinned as Jerbo leaned down to check the other guard.

“He’s still alive,” Jerbo said as he stood back up. 

“Good, now we just have to…,” Amity stopped short, frowning as she looked at Jerbo who grinned ruefully. 

“It’s fine, Luz can owe me a favor and it will keep me out of trouble, for the most part, just try to be gentle,” he said as he turned to Edric who nodded before the guard turned around and Edric smashed the rock against the back of his head, though not nearly as hard as the first. 

Jerbo fell to a single knee, grimacing as blood dribbled down the back of his head.

“Are you alright?” Amity asked him and he nodded, though his eyes were squeezed tightly shut. 

“Yeah, I'll be good, you guys better hurry before Lord and Lady Blight get here,” he advised before laying on the ground and pretending to be knocked out. 

“Thank you, Jerbo,” Amity said to him as they took off. He gave them a thumbs-up before laying still in the grass next to the unconscious guard.

“Luz is gonna owe me so many drinks…,” he grumbled to himself as he laid there, head throbbing. 

Without their escorts, they were able to slip quickly and quietly across the tourney grounds to the tent Lilith had set up for them.

The raven knight looked up as they entered. 

“Ah, good, you’re here. I take it you had no problems escaping your escorts?” she asked, looking between the three as they shook their heads. 

“Good, Edric, go and register ‘your knight’,” Lilith told the oldest Blight child, who gave a cheeky two-fingered salute before he hurried out of the tent. “Emira, come and help me with Amity’s gear.”

The next few minutes were a whirlwind of getting her out of her dress and suited with the gear Lilith had made for her. The hairpiece she had received from Luz, she handed it to her sister, who slipped it into one of the hidden pockets of her dress for safekeeping. 

“I wish we had time for you to train in this, but the smith wasn’t able to complete it till recently…,” Lilith hummed as she tightened the final strap and stepped back to look at Amity with an appraising stare. 

The metal plates were smooth and rounded, the flat surface of the breastplate, greaves, and gauntlets studded with a thick layer of dragon scales.

Amity ran her hand down the cool metal, fingertips whispering across the thick red scales that even in the dim light of the tent seemed to dance and flicker. She smiled to herself as she did, thinking of the knight that had given them to her. 

She was very glad she had never gotten around to grinding and using any of them for elixirs because it had taken every one of them to layer over the flat planes of her armor.

Lilith handed over Amity’s sword that she had gotten back from Luz and she strapped it to her waist as her sister handed the helmet to Lilith.

“Under no circumstances are you to take this off, do you understand?” she asked as she handed it to Amity, who stared into the visor for a long moment. “Once you're in and the fights begin even your parents will be unable to withdraw you but it's better safe than sorry. You could still draw unwanted attention, such as Boscha.” 

“Of course.” Amity nodded and pulled it on just as her brother walked back into the tent. 

“Okay, ‘Amelia Esa Simp’ is all registered,” he said and all three women turned to look at him. “What kind of name is that?”

“Amelia is pretty close to your name and Simp is a new word I'm using to describe you.” He grinned at her.

“Dare I ask?” Amity grumbled, voice echoing within her helmet, and knew better when her brother grinned at her.

“Well…-” 

“We don’t have time for that,” Lilith cut him off and Edric pouted “You’re registered and that’s what matters. You’re ready for the duels and my horse is quite experienced in the joust, so you will ride it for that portion of the competition. You need to be ready for anything, there’s no telling who you will face.”

“Hey, I just had a thought…,” Edric started.

“Congratulations…” Emira cut him off and he sent her a dirty look. 

“As I was saying…,” he bit out. “What if she faces Luz?” 

A cold dread shot through Amity at that. She hadn’t considered that. She had sparred with Luz plenty before but she had done a lot of training since, so had Luz though. She didn’t know if she could beat her even if she tried and she certainly didn’t want to fight her at all!

She whipped around to look at Lilith from within the visor of her helmet. She was not reassured by the uncertain look on the older knight’s face. 

“What do I do if I should face Luz!?”

“Calm yourself.” Lilith held up her hands as she walked over to her apprentice and laid a gentle hand on her metal-clad shoulder. “The likelihood of you having to face Luz at any stage of the tournament is entirely unlikely unless the both of you make it to the final match and if it comes to that, someone will have already defeated Boscha.” Lilith tried to soothe her worries. 

That brought up a lot of other worries though, but Amity tried to push them away and focus on the tourney ahead. Lilith was right, the chances that she would have to fight Luz were unlikely, but she still wasn’t sure what she would do if she did.

“Are you ready to head out for the opening ceremony?” Lilith asked and Amity nodded, leather glove-clad fists tightened at her sides.

“Let us go then.” Lilith headed out of the tent followed by the twins. Amity took a deep breath and strode out of the tent and back into the sunlight.

Running promptly into another solid body and almost sending them both crashing to the ground in a heap of metal. 

“Watch where you’re going nitwit!” she snapped, looking up only to freeze and gold eyes locked with sheepish looking brown, staring down at her.

“Sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going," Luz quickly apologized to the shorter helmeted knight.

It took Amity a moment to find her tongue as she glanced over Luz, who looked… very dashing in her armor. She was more than a little impressed by the sharp figure her lover cut in the heavy plate mail but shook herself out of it. She didn’t have time to swoon today and Luz couldn’t know it was her.

"It… it's fine…," she gruffed in an attempt to make her voice sound a little deeper than it was as she looked away and Luz blinked as she took notice of the other knight's armor. Solid gray plate armor, covered in bright crimson scales that bounced and shined in the sun.

Luz recognized those scales; dragon scales.

"Oh, nice armor!" Luz grinned, pointing at one of Amity's scale-clad arms. "Dragon right? Those things are tough to kill." 

“Yeah, it… was a tough fight,” Amity stumbled along, glancing at Lilith and her siblings standing a little ways away, out of Luz’s sight. The blacksmith at her side was only smirking at her, thick arms crossed over her chest and she frowned within the helmet. Viney had made her armor at Lilith's instruction but given that she and Luz were friends and she knew exactly where the scales came from, it was a safe bet she knew who was wearing the armor. Not to mention the smirk playing on her lips right now was a dead giveaway. 

“You’ve killed a dragon too, huh?” Luz’s eyes narrowed and she more carefully regarded the other knight as they gave a jerky nod. Someone else who could kill a dragon was nothing to sneeze at and Luz mentally committed the other knight to memory. 

“We gotta get going, Luz.” Viney nudged her friend, still unintentionally staring down her own would-be-betrothed. 

“Ah, yeah, let’s go.” Luz nodded to Amity and Viney winked at her before they hurried back off into the crowd. 

Once they had vanished, Amity let out a breath she didn’t know she had been holding. 

“That was close,” Emira mumbled once Amity had hurried to join them, watching the blacksmith as she vanished in the crowd.

“You froze…,” Lilith hummed, sounding displeased as she regarded Amity knowingly, who blushed beneath the helmet. How was it her fault Luz was so attractive?

“That…,” her brother began. “...Is why you are Amelia Esa Simp,” He said with a knowing grin as his sisters and Lilith just looked at him, confused.

~ ~

Luz stood, arms crossed as they waited for the Emperor to arrive and give his opening speech. Luz couldn't care less about that though as she scanned the crowd of nobles in the stands, looking for a familiar head of bright green hair. Not just Amity’s but for any of the Blight children. Where there was one, the others were not generally far. She didn’t see any familiar green heads in the crowd but she did see Eda’s mane of gray in the front row and she smiled at her old mentor. 

She owed a lot to Eda, more than she could ever payback, but the older knight wouldn’t hear of it. Though, she did make Luz spring for drinks much more often than she used too. 

Not too far from Eda and King, Gus and Willow were standing in the viewing stands, looking excited as they waited for the tourney to begin. 

“Nervous?” a voice at her side made her turn to look at Viney, who was staring up at her curiously. 

“Maybe a little… mostly just anxious… I just want all this to be done and Amity in my arms again,” She grumbled, still looking around when her eyes fell on a familiar and unwanted head of blood-red hair moving toward her with purpose. Luz growled, making Viney look and she also grimaced as Boscha moved toward them. A familiar, arrogant expression etched into her face. 

Her armor was a bright silver with strips of yellow, the color her family was known for, painted across each layer. A cloak of the same yellow hung around her neck and draped off one shoulder. 

“I’m not sure if I’m surprised you were stupid enough to come or because you were too stupid to run,” she sniffed disdainfully as she regarded Luz with narrowed eyes. “I can’t imagine being dumb enough to throw your life away for  _ Amity _ ,” The noble sneered at her, and Luz’s lips curled back over her teeth, taking a menacing step forward before Viney’s arm shot out to stop her. 

“If you start a fight outside the tournament you’ll be disqualified,” she whispered harshly. Luz continued to glare and snarl at the noble, who only smirked back, all three eyes narrowed. 

“Better listen to your beast handler, if an animal forgets their place around here, we put it down…” She spat and Luz growled. “...and I’ll make my defiant, betrothed watch.” Boscha curled her lips disdainfully at the human knight, who bristled at the comment, red seeping into her vision.

“Amity doesn’t belong to you,” she growled lowly in her throat, unaware that Lilith and Amity were standing nearby and had seen the redhead approaching and were now watching the tense staredown. 

“Oh, but she belongs with a second-class creature like you?” Boscha took a menacing step forward, coming eye to eye with Luz, who only glared back balefully.

“She belongs wherever she wants to be, and that’s not with you, not if you were the last person in the Boiling Isles,” Luz hissed out between clenched teeth and her gaze never wavered from the noble’s. Boscha’s lips curled back over her teeth and the sharp canines hidden beneath.

“I’m going to lop your head off the first chance I get and display it on a pike outside Blight Manor!” She barked and bowed up, hand settling on the hilt of her sword. Luz reached for her blade just as Amity and Lilith started making their way over. 

“Luz!” Viney yelped.

Before anyone could so much as think to draw a blade, the crowd erupted in loud raucous cheers for the Emperor.

The electricity between the two fizzled out as he appeared in front of the large crowd. 

“Nobles, knights, and citizens of the Empire, welcome to my tournament!”

Luz tuned out most of the speech as she continued to glance casually around the crowd, still not seeing who she was looking for and trusting Viney to hear anything important she would need to know. The boiling anger that had been about to erupt in her gut had settled once more. 

She frowned and was just about to turn forward and pay attention when her eyes landed on a familiar-looking pair not too far from her.

The knight in the dragon scale armor was looking at her from within the slit of her visor, eyes a shade of bright gold that made Luz think of Amity. They held the gaze for a long moment before Viney elbowed her in the ribs and she turned back around to face the front where the Emperor was already finishing up his speech. 

“Let the tournament begin and may you bring the Empire glory in your victories!”

With that, he walked off, surrounded by the usual retinue of guards, and his assistant announced for all knights to gather in the large squared-off arena for the grand melee. 

Boscha scoffed and with a final sharp look over her shoulder at Luz quickly hurried away to the arena.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote the last 2 chapters as one but it was so long i decided to break them up. So, one more chapt to go!


	28. Chapter 28

Luz readied herself and took a breath.

“Good luck.” Viney gave her a smack on the back before hurrying over to the viewing stands where, seemingly, the rest of the town had gathered to watch.

“Let’s do it!” Luz pulled her helmet down over her head and hurried after the crowd of knights making their way there.

“The rules for the grand melee are as follows….,” the Emperor's assistant called out over the din. “All combatants will fight until only twenty remain. If you die, yield, or step a single foot outside the arena, you are out," she announced.

Luz drew her sword and her whole body tensed as they waited for the signal to start. Eda had coached her on the grand melee. Try to get into as few fights as possible. Enough of the other combatants would knock themselves out or tire themselves out trying. She needed to stay as fresh as possible for the joust and the one-on-one duels later in the day.

The air was charged and the many knights stood around gauging each other tensely.

A horn sounded and bedlam erupted all around her as swords clashed and armor jangled loudly as metal-encased bodies rammed into each other at full steam while magic blazed to life in every corner of the arena.

Fire, lightning, and ice were flying through the air and bodies dropped quicker than one could keep count.

Luz ducked beneath the swing of a pike before ramming her sword hilt into a helmeted head and kicking him off the arena platform and into the dirt, knocking him out. Even through the ever-shifting wave of fighting, she caught sight of a flash of bright yellow and her jaw clenched.

Boscha.

If she could take Boscha out in the grand melee…

But the other knight was in the thick of things, surrounded all on all sides and fighting off multiple opponents at once it seemed. If Luz went dashing in she would be subject to attacks from every side, rather than where she stood now near the edge of the arena.

But it could be over so much quicker...

Her mind made up, she got as far as two steps when another figure caught her attention in a sparkle of red.

The knight with the dragon scale armor was currently fighting off another knight not too far in front of her and Luz watched, briefly becoming distracted. There was something familiar about the way the other knight moved that struck something in her but before she could contemplate it, she was thrown into another battle with a tall armored man wielding a metal, spiked club. She jumped back, barely avoiding having her skull caved in as it smashed into the ground at her feet.

Before he could pull it back to swing again, she jolted forward, using her armor-plated shoulder as a battering ram, sending him careening backward. He fell flat on his back and she raised her sword overhead.

"I yield!" he shouted, making her stop short. He quickly scrambled out of the arena and into the crowd.

The fighting continued for a good ten minutes. She slowly made her way to the obnoxious, redhead, nearly within striking distance when the horn sounded once more and she looked up to see the area strewn with a few bodies but most had retreated to outside the arena, leaving only twenty knights still standing in the fray.

Herself, Boscha, and the knight with the dragon scale armor among them.

All the remaining combatants glanced around at each other warily.

"All combatants remaining please make your way to the jousting field for the start of the second event within the hour!" the Emperor's assistant called out and they dispersed, though not before she and Boscha glared hotly at each other; animosity crackling through the air between them.

Luz grunted and sheathed her sword, turning to go, she didn’t want to look at the

Viney was waiting at their tent near the jousting field when she arrived.

"Hey! That was a good showing, Luz. Already made your registration fee back from the five you punted out of the melee." She grinned and Luz nodded only half listening as she glanced around and found the dragon scale knight just as they disappeared into a tent.

There was something about that one but she couldn't put her finger on it. She shook it off as Viney said something to her and turned back to the task at hand.

~

"Excellent work, Amity!" Lilith praised as she entered the tent, closing the flap behind her and pulling off her helmet to reveal her sweaty face.

"That was a lot more intense than I anticipated," she huffed, wiping at her forehead with the back of her arm.

"Yes, live combat certainly has a different feel to it than sparring in practice, but you handled it beautifully," The older knight praised and Amity smiled at her.

She too had seen Boscha from across the arena and had wanted to go and see if she could end this quickly before something happened to Luz or herself. Luck had not been on her side though and every time she turned around there was another attacker to fend off. Lilith had warned her that her smaller stature would invite more attacks by knights looking to thin the ranks quickly and take out any perceived weak links. Amity had proved them wrong. She’d taken a few hard knocks to the sides and her ears still rang slightly from the loud noises bouncing off the inside of her helmet.

"Are you prepared for the joust?" Lilith asked and Amity pursed her lips. that was something she hadn't gotten the chance to really practice, or at all since she had been confined to the manor grounds but she had watched many in her life and could only hope the principles remained the same. She once thought that about sword fighting in general though; Luz had taught her better.

“Not really, but I don’t have much of a choice but to learn quickly do I?” she asked and her teacher smirked.

“Some things can only be learned through experience.” she nodded "For now, take a seat and rest while you can. It's only going to get harder from here on out," she advised and Amity nodded, plopping down on a rickety wooden bench in the tent and sighed as she thought about the melee, she had wanted to get a better idea of how Boscha fought but everything had been so chaotic that she hadn’t had much of a chance and then at one point her eyes had inadvertently been drawn to the tall, wolf-helmed clad figure of her would-be-betrothed fighting off several different knights at a time and flinging them out of the arena with quick and careful counters to their large, power swings attacks that left them vulnerable to Luz’s strikes.

Watching Luz fight was always mesmerizing to her, even when she should be focussed on something else, like not being stabbed in the first round of the tournament. Luz had seemed strangely interested in her at one point as well. There was no way she knew who she was, she wouldn’t have been able to stop herself from coming over if she did. She knew Luz too well.

So, what was it that had her so interested? She glanced down at her arm and the dragon scales plated across it, that had to be it. She couldn’t think of anything else.

She hummed to herself as she leaned back on the bench. She had to be careful. There was no telling how Luz would react to her being there. She was afraid that Luz might think she didn’t think she was capable of winning when nothing could be further from the truth. Her own entering of the tourney was an extra assurance. To knock out others who might defeat Boscha or Luz.

She meant what she said last night. She had full confidence in Luz to win. There was no harm in a little extra assurance. Though, that would all depend on how well she performed.

She sat thinking about it until suddenly her time was up and she pulled her helmet on before Lilith was ushering her out to the field.

Jousts were already going on and she was surprised to see Luz already mounted on Singe and talking to Viney from the other side of the barrier the separated the horse track from the viewing stands.

She was about to start her run and Amity watched carefully as she went up against a knight dressed in dark plate armor and a royal blue cloak. She’s never seen Luz joust before. She assumed she could though.

She glanced around at the stands and noticed that her brother and sister were sitting there by themselves before Luz finished talking to Viney and she moved over to the stands and plopped herself next to Emira, who flushed brightly but smiled at her nonetheless as the smith grinned back. Amity briefly wondered about that but she didn’t have time to think about it long.

The referee yelled something and then the two horses were barreling down the track in a thundering stampede oh hooves, javelin at the ready. She watched, fascinated as Luz angled her shield and managed to glance the incoming lance away from her and ram her own straight into the joint of his shoulder and breastplate, ripping him up and unseating him, throwing him into the dirt in a thunderous crash of metal as his horse continued on without him.

The crowd roared and cheered as Luz threw up her javelin in victory, yelling something Amity couldn't hear and she felt relief wash over her as she watched her take off her helmet and wave it to the cheering crowd as she grinned.

The setup of the tournament being twenty people left, each knight would only joust once and then the remaining ten would compete in one-on-one duels, leaving five.

One person would receive a by and only have to fight one duel instead of two. It was a very contested way of doing things because the person who received a by would be fresher than the rest. More often than not, the Emperor chose who would receive the by, making it all the more derisive but no one would say a word.

"Well, she seems to be doing well," Lilith said with a knowing little smile directed at Amity, who was grinning herself and nodded. Lilith couldn't see her face but Amity was sure she didn't need to to know how she felt.

"You can celebrate her victories later, you still have your own to accomplish." Lilith quickly shooed her in the direction of the temporary stable where her horse was and soon enough she was saddled atop the solid white horse, shield in one hand and javelin in the other. She took a deep breath as she stared at her opponent on the other side of the field. A large heavily armored knight with an unfamiliar coat of arms painted across his chest plate. He raised an arm and waved to the cheering crowd, paying Amity little mind, annoying her but she tried to calm herself, remembering Luz's lesson on controlling her temper.

She could still feel the jabbing of that stick as Luz had goaded her into attacking.

She had to stay calm.

Luz leaned lazily on the railing at Viney's side as she watched the two prepare. She just couldn't stop watching the dragon armored knight and she wasn't sure why. Something about them just tugged at a string of familiarity in Luz that she could not shake.

"You good?" Viney asked, jolting her out of her thoughts. Luz nodded.

"Yeah… just… something about that knight in the dragon scale armor…," she trailed off and it took everything Viney had not to snort.

"What about 'em?" she asked and Luz shrugged.

"I don't know just something… familiar? I don't know how to explain it." She shrugged again and Viney was doing the best she could to keep from snickering.

"You made that armor right?" Luz asked and Viney stopped her internal snickering. “Who did you make it for?”

“Uh, dunno, they sent a courier to do all the dealing with me… you know how nobles are.” Viney shrugged, managing to easily dodge the question. She breathed a sigh of relief when Luz hummed and nodded.

“That makes sense.”

The referee yelled to start and then the two horses were barreling toward each other, kicking up dirt in their wake.

Amity tensed, holding the shield up to her chest and hunching forward as they clashed. Her javelin rammed into his shield and his glanced off her chest plate, jarring her and she wobbled precariously for a moment before managing to right herself in the saddle as Lilith’s horse turned, preparing for the next round. Her whole body had been jarred there but she tried to shake it off and collect herself quickly. All too soon the call came again and her horse's thundering hooves in the muddy dirt and her heartbeat was all she could hear as they made contact once more.

Her shield was slammed into her chest as she managed to block the javelin head-on and ram her own straight into the visor of his helmet, sending him careening off his horse into the dirt. His screaming drowned out by the bloodthirsty cheers of the crowd.

Amity tried to block it out and focus on her victory. She knew from the start exactly what these tournaments might entail. It was why she had warned Luz away in the first place.

Lilith was waiting for her when she finally rode back to the stable and climbed down.

"A little sloppy, but for your first ever joust it was an impressive effort. You made quite the rare shot," the older knight praised. And amity nodded, still trying to control the thundering pace of her heart in her chest. It was like her whole life had flashed before her eyes when she had nearly come unseated.

She wanted to pull off her helmet and take a deep breath, it felt stifling and hot but there were other knights hanging around the stables, including Boscha, who was about to go up, so she left it on but hurried quickly away, back to her own tent, where she ripped it off and took a cool breath.

She and Luz had won, it made no difference to her whether or not Boscha won her joust. Though if she lost she would then 'belong' to that knight.

The thought left a sour taste in her mouth, as it always did. Watching would not stop the final outcome though. So she sat down and breathed out a sigh of relief.

There were still more jousts yet to come for the other combatants, so she laid back on the bench and closed her eyes.

She needed a rest, sparring and training with Lilith was one thing, putting it into life or death practice was another.

~

Luz paced impatiently as the duels raged on in the arena outside. So far four matches had taken place. The knight in the dragon armor that Luz has been watching had won hers and again she felt something about the way the knight fought but it continued to escape her. She didn’t have time to worry about that though, the dragon scaled knight was another potential opponent. Her own first match was next and the second round would begin immediately after the warrior receiving the by was chosen. Luz hoped it was her but being human, the likelihood was slim to nonexistent. She would fight two matches, she just knew it. So long as Boscha didn’t receive the by, Luz would be happy.

Boscha had won her first match, of course, the knight thought bitterly as continued to pace the length of her tent. At least this was her strong suit; one on one combat.

Viney watched her wordlessly as she moved like a caged animal.

“Pacing around isn't going to help you any…,” Viney said, though she knew it would do little good. “You gotta relax, you’re up next and you’re all wound up.”

“I know but how can I not be all wound up?” Luz threw up her hands as she finally stopped wearing a path in the dirt to face the blacksmith.

“It's not gonna help any,” she repeated and Luz grunted before resuming her pacing as Viney rolled her eyes.

Cheering sounded outside the tent and Luz stopped again to stare out the tent flap. She knew what that meant. The match was over and it was her turn.

“Ready?” Viney asked and Luz nodded, donning her helmet. Brown eyes peering out from the opening of the wolf’s mouth.

“Yeah” she nodded and Viney knocked her in the arm as she walked out of the tent at the moment her name was announced to the cheering crowd. Her opponent was already waiting for her. A tall armored man about her height wearing heavy plate armor and a thick black fur cloak hung from his shoulders. She stopped a few feet from him and drew her sword, clenching the hilt in both hands.

He grunted, hefting his own up in the ready position, and glared at her from within the visor.

The call to begin rang out and Luz was immediately on the defensive as he rushed her, swinging his sword in a quick downward arc that glanced off her chest plate in a screech of metal on metal and a shower of sparks. Luz pressed a hand to one of the engravings on the blade and fire erupted across the blade, making him jerk back as she rushed forward, swinging her blade through the air and sending out a shot of fire, catching the fur cloak ablaze as he turned away, shielding his face with his arm. Luz didn’t wait though and pressed on with another attack, her sword slashed through the air but then the blazing cloak was flying at her. She yelped from within her helmet as the flaming cloak fell over her head, blinding her with hot, suffocating flames.

She quickly whipped it off but not before a crushing blow slammed into her ribs and sent her crashing to the ground. Her armor dug into her back and she grimaced as her helmet slammed into the back of her head but she didn’t have time for that as she blinked against the spots in her vision and caught sight of the ice-covered blade raised overhead and rolled off to the side just as it struck the ground. Ice scattered in a high-pitched ring of shattering crystals. With a grunt, she rolled over and rammed her still flaming sword into the back of his unprotected shin. He screamed, crumpling as her blade rendered through flesh and blood, hitting bone. She managed to take her time climbing to her feet as he rolled around on the arena floor screaming bloody murder.

She grunted, pulling her sword free and eliciting another scream of pain from her opponent as he laid on the ground writhing. She looked up at the referee who only nodded back to her opponent.

Death or yield. That was the only way for a match to end.

She swallowed thickly, sword held out, and pressed the tip to his throat. He stopped rolling around to glare up at her.

“Yield,” she commanded and he glared up at her from behind the visor of his helmet but his face was growing paler by the moment as blood continued to pool around him. She pressed the blade harder, she didn’t want to do this if she didn’t have to but there was too much at stake to back down now.

The blades tip bit into his neck and a single drop of blood beaded out atop it.

“I yield,” he spat and she pulled the blade away, turning to walk quickly away from the arena and whatever the fate of her opponent would be as she hurried back to her tent where Viney was waiting for her.

“That looked painful,” she winced as Luz ripped off her helmet and threw it to the ground with a growl, and dropped onto the bench as Viney leaned down over her.

“Where are you hurting?” she asked.

“My ribs…,” she grumbled and Viney wedged her hand into one of the openings in her armor and felt around Luz’s side with a frown.

“I think one of them is cracked…,” Viney told her grimly and Luz felt a cold shot go through her. “You’re not allowed to see a healer till it’s over or you forfeit…” Viney grimaced as she looked up at her.

“No, I’m not gonna forfeit! I can’t, I got this far, I can’t let Amity down now!”

The blacksmith frowned but saved her breath. She could tell by the look on Luz’s face that she wasn’t going to hear any protests and sighed silently to herself.

“Alright, there's still a chance you could get the by and at least have a little more time to rest…” Just as those words fell out of her mouth a runner for the tournament committee popped their head in and called to Viney.

“Lady Griffin, the Emperor has made his choice and the knight receiving the by on this round is Ser Simp.

“Who?” Luz balked at the runner who snorted.

“The knight in the scaled armor,” he grunted before dipping back out of the tent.

“Well, so much for that…,” Viney grumbled as he vanished.

“It’s fine… I can still fight,” Luz grunted and stood from her spot on the bench.

“It’s not fine… but I’m not going to try and stop you… just sit down till it’s at least your turn to fight. You’re making me hurt watching you…”

Luz sighed but did sit, wincing the whole time. She needed a little time to rest before her next match. She took a breath, relieved that she wasn’t the only one who had to fight a second match. It looked like Boscha would be as well and thus the chances of her being defeated by someone else only grew. Luz sucked a sharp breath in through her teeth as her side throbbed with each movement. She laid down on the bench and closed her eyes, taking shallow breaths to keep from hurting her ribs anymore than they were.

She wondered vaguely where Amity was. Was she still confined to the manor or was she watching Luz compete? She let out a tense breath, brows furrowed in pain. All she wanted was to hold Amity again, also to lay down and sleep for the next two days.

She just needed a few minutes, that was all. She tried to relax as the beginning of another match was announced.

“Luz Noceda!”

Her eyes popped open.

“I literally just finished my match!” she yelped, lifting her head to look at Viney.

“The docket is random, sometimes it just so happens to fall that way.” She shrugged helplessly.

With a resigned sigh, she sat up, wincing the whole time.

“Okay, who’s next?” she grumbled coming to a stand. Viney peeked out the tent flaps and froze before whipping back around to her.

“Boscha…”

Luz bolted forward to look and sure enough, the arrogant prick was strutting up to the arena with a wicked smile plastered across her face and Luz bristled, every hair on her body standing on end and hot anger flashed through her like fire.

Luz snarled and yanked her helmet on and hurried out of the tent, all but ignoring Viney’s call to wait. All she could see was that damn witch’s face, grinning knowingly at her as she approached. The one person standing between her and the love of her life.

That damn, stupid smirk was mocking her and her lips pulled back over her teeth as she stopped in front of the redheaded noble. Her side was throbbing with every step she took but she ignored it in favor of the opportunity in front of her. The chance to knock Boscha out and win the one prize she sought.

How could she not take it?

The other knight didn’t even wear a helmet and Luz scowled from behind her own as they glared at each other.

Luz drew her swords as Boscha did the same, eyes never wavering from hers.

“Ready to be humiliated in front of all the city?” she asked, lip curling upward.

“Come get some then!” Luz snapped.

Amity stood to the side with the remaining combatants and her jaw clenched as she watched. She could tell by the way Luz was walking that she was hurt from her last match and hadn’t even had a chance to rest. Her firsts clenched and the leather of her gloves squeaked. She wanted Luz to win, but she needed her to live more than anything else.

“Please don’t die…,” she mumbled quietly to herself.

The call to start sounded and neither moved, watching each other tensely. Everything was riding on this one fight, for Luz at least.

Luz’s whole body was tensely coiled like a spring ready to go off and she didn’t have to wait long before Boscha slapped a hand against her blade and fire erupted across it in a flash as she dashed forward.

Luz whipped her blade up to catch it just as it slammed down with crushing force.

They held the lock as the red-head grinned, flames lighting up her face

“I’m going to butcher you and make Amity watch,” Boscha snapped and Luz growled back.

She gave a mighty shove, despite the loud protesting in her side, sending the other knight staggering backward and pressed a hand to one of the glyphs engraved on her blade, and ice erupted down the length of the metal. The weight increased and her side throbbed in pain but she ignored it and swung, sending shards of ice flying through the air. The witch ducked under most of them but a large stray shard embedded itself in her thigh and she hissed, gaze shooting down to it, that was all Luz needed.

She darted forward and rammed the hilt of her sword into the witch’s gut, following up by slamming her metal-plated forearm into her face with concussive force. The crowd cheered as she staggered back, blood gushed from the witch knight’s nose and she snarled up at Luz, ears pinned back and fangs bared. Luz glared right back, grip on her sword tightening as Boscha charged her.

Hoping to capitalize on the noble’s frenzy-induced state of anger, she whipped up her blade, bringing it down in a deadly arc, but it was blocked and her ribs chose that moment to flare again, making her spasm and her strength ebbed. Three eyes glanced down and she grinned. Before Luz could think to step back, Boscha reared back her right hand and punched the wolf knight hard in the ribs making her see stars and wheeze as her side screamed.

She swore she heard something crack under the pressure of the fist as it shoved her armor into her skin.

She staggered back as pain shot blindingly through her, hand clutching at her ribs.

Boscha continued her advance, using the flat side of her flaming blade to smack the human knight upside the head. Her helmet rang loudly against her ears as it was knocked off her head and sent flying across the arena. It felt like her ears were going to pop with the concussive noise against her skull. She forced her eyes open just as the flaming blade whizzed past her face and then she could smell burnt hair but paid it little mind as she moved out of the way as fast as her injuries would allow.

Her whole world was pain and she barely had managed to get out of the way of the one strike before the hilt of Boscha’s sword slammed into her chest and the next thing she knew she was laying on her back on the ground of the arena looking up at the snarling witch, blood dripping down her face as she readied her flaming sword overhead to slam into her chest.

Amity was two seconds away from dashing forward and stopping the match herself, she could not watch what was about to happen; Luz was going to break her promise. She made it half a step before Lilith grabbed her by the shoulders and jerked her to a stop.

“Lilith!” she cried.

“You can’t!” her teacher reminded her, roughly jerking her back.

Boscha grinned down at her as Luz’s eyes finally regained focus on the white-hot blade about to come down and pierce her chest. Her fists clenched and everything in her resisted what she knew she had to do. She was nothing if not good to her word, especially to Amity.

The witch’s arms twitched.

“I yield!” Luz shouted and the blade jerked to a stop.

Everything was still for a long moment before Boscha sneered at her and lowered her blade, the flame sizzling out.

“You’re just as pathetic as I thought,” she spat a mouthful of blood at Luz, who squeezed her eyes shut as she laid there in agony. Her side was on fire and her head rang as the weight of the situation sunk in with the jeering of the crowd, tears pricking at the corners of her eyes.

She had lost.

Everything she had been working for the last few months had amounted to nothing. A stray shot from an unremarkable opponent had crippled her early and left her open to Boscha. She grit her teeth tightly.

Worst of all though, she’d lost Amity. She’d kept her promise and saved her own life, but lost Amity.

“It’s okay, Kid…” Eda was suddenly at her side and she and Viney helped pull her to her feet, Viney scooping up her helmet and sword as she did. Her mouth was screwed up in pain as she was lifted off the ground and limped slowly to her tent, trying and failing to keep the tears from falling.

“I lost…,” she wheezed under her breath, head hung, trying to hide her tears. Eda frowned at her as she hiked her arm higher over her shoulder to get a better grip, making Luz wince.

“One thing at a time, Luz…,” she mumbled.

It felt like it took forever to pull off her armor and every jerk of a strap made her throbbing head and ribs cry out in protest before she was finally laid down on the ground atop a blanket. Eda feeling up her side gently and making her jerk when her fingers ghosted over her ribs.

“I’ll go finish finalizing your yield,” Viney said quietly and hurried out of the tent.

“And I’ll go see if the healer can come look at your busted ribs,” Eda mumbled, giving Luz a final look over her shoulder before hurrying out of the tent and leaving her alone.

She clutched at her side and finally let herself cry. Everything had been for nothing. Even if one of the other three combatants managed to beat Boscha, Amity was still lost to her.

Now what was she supposed to do?

She clenched her eyes shut and didn’t hear the tent flap flutter open.

~ ~

Amity let out the breath she didn’t know she had been holding as Boscha walked off, sheathing her sword but her gaze turned quickly to Luz, who struggled to stand from the ground. Viney and Eda both rushed out to help pick her up, Gus and Willow watching, stunned from the spectator's stand.

_‘She’s alive…’_

Her whole body sagged in relief as she watched Luz limp off, carried by her mentor and friend. Amity could see the pain twisting at her face as she staggered slowly back to her tent. Her heart tightened in her chest. She had never seen Luz look so defeated, not to mention injured, and she wanted to go to her, to make sure she was going to be okay. Her fists clenched at her sides, there was another match coming up. She had the time… if she was quick and sneaky...

Lilith’s white-knuckle grip on her lessened and she nudged her in the back. Amity glanced back at her curiously and the raven knight merely nodded her head to the tent where luz had disappeared and both Viney and Eda had just come out of.

“Be quick,” she advised quietly. Amity didn’t need to be told twice and hurried over to the tent in question.

She glanced around but no one seemed to be paying her any mind as she slipped into the tent.

Luz was laying on the floor, eyes squeezed shut and her left hand clutched over her right side as she sniffled.

The quiet clinking of her armor made the human knight look up, eyes snapping open as she locked eyes with the scale-armor-covered knight. What was the other knight doing in her tent? She was out of the tournament, what could she possibly want with her?

“What are you doing here?” she asked, brows furrowed between her eyes as the knight approached, though they made no threatening moves, even as they knelt down at the human’s side.

“I wanted to make sure you were alright…,” Amity said as she reached up and pulled off her helmet.

Luz’s jaw all but came unhinged as she blinked up at Amity leaning over her, face contorted with worry.

“A...Amity…You’re… I...!” Luz was having a hard time forming words as she blinked up helplessly at the noble dressed in dragon scale plated armor. The witch smiled gently down at her, though her face was still pinched with worry.

“You joined the tournament!?” she finally managed to yelp.

“It was Lilith’s plan… she thought a little extra assurance on top of you fighting in the tourney wouldn’t hurt any… I did believe in you to win,” she was quick to assure but that seemed to be the wrong thing to say and Luz’s face twisted up and she turned her head away, unable to look Amity in the eye another moment.

“You shouldn’t have,” she bit out sourly, fist clenched at her side and the other still clutched to her side. “I lost… I failed you and…,” she stopped as a leather-clad hand pressed gently to her cheek, wiping away a smear of blood with her thumb, and carefully turned Luz’s head to look at her.

“You did everything you could, Luz,” she said quietly, cupping her other cheek to hold her face in both hands.

Luz’s bottom lip trembled as yet more tears tried to press past her lashes. She reached up and held Amity’s hand to her cheek, soaking up the warmth she could feel radiating through the leather glove.

“I’m sorry…,” she mumbled and Amity shook her head, leaning down to press her face to Luz’s, though her armor bit and dug into her in place with the painfully awkward angle, she did not move.

“You have nothing to be sorry for, Luz. In fact, I should be thanking you, for keeping your promise to me…,” she whispered in her ear and Luz sniffled as Amity brushed away the tears as they fell.

“What good did it do though,” she grumbled and Amity frowned, eyes closing as she squeezed herself as close to Luz as possible without hurting her.

“It’s not over yet, she’s had to fight more matches than I have and you injured her. We can still do this.” She reached down to take Luz’s free hand in hers. “I can still fight.”

Luz’s eyes popped open and teary, brown eyes gazed back at Amity for a long moment. She had been watching her closely, she knew there was something familiar about the knight in the dragon scale armor!

She was right though. She had been watching and Amity had performed remarkably well, especially for someone who had only been training a short time. There had been some luck involved, such as her receiving the by, but she had skill.

Boscha was more experienced, though Luz was sure she could have beaten her if she hadn’t been hurt, whereas Amity was very green but she had taken the last few months of training seriously and Boscha was injured and tired, where Amity was relatively fresh.

She could win!

“You can!” Luz jolted up to sit but immediately regretted it as her, probably broken ribs, shot pain through her in protest. She hissed painfully, eyes squeezing shut.

“Luz, you’re hurt, just lay down!” Amity fretted, carefully guiding her back to the floor.

“I know… I think one of my ribs is broken,” she grunted and Amity’s eyes widened at that. “But you're right, you can win Amity! Boscha has more experience but she’s injured too, you can still save yourself!” Luz gripped both her armored forearms.

“You… do you really think I can win?” Amity asked her quietly. She had been doing fairly well, but she had never entertained any notions of beating Boscha herself.

“I know you can.” Luz nodded. “I’ve been watching, you can do this Amity.”

Amity bit her bottom lip. If Lilith and Luz had faith, then who was she to say she couldn’t do it?

“I will…” She nodded and squeezed Luz’s hand back, drawing the human knight’s eyes to her arms.

“I didn’t know you still had the scales I gave you…,” she mumbled and Amity smiled.

“Of course. I’m glad I never used them for any elixirs. They’ve been pretty useful.” Amity smirked and Luz chuckled, staring back at her with that lovingly dopey expression Amity adored.

She leaned down and pressed a chaste kiss to the knight’s lips.

“You stay here and let the healers take care of you…,” she mumbled against her lips before she let go of Luz to pick up her helmet. Luz frowned but nodded, wincing as she laid back down.

“Ah, I figured I’d find you here.”

They both looked up as Viney walked back in, grinning.

“They just finished the other match. It’s you and your, oh so, joyful, betrothed’s turn to have a go at each other.” Viney nodded back toward the arena and Amity nodded and pulled the helmet on as she stood.

Gritting her teeth, Luz sat up and grabbed her hand, drawing gold eyes back to her from within the visor.

“Be careful…” she frowned, squeezing her hand. Amity nodded and squeezed back before pulling away and hurrying out of the tent.

“You knew didn’t you?!” she heard Luz accuse the now laughing blacksmith as she hurried out to the arena.

Boscha was already waiting for her. She looked a little haggard and the front of the cloak hanging around her neck was stained with blood from where Luz had smacked her with her arm. If she looked closely, she could see the knight favoring her right side, she probably wasn’t able to put her full weight on her left from where the ice shard had hit home in her battle with the human.

Things Amity planned to take full advantage of.

She stopped a few feet from the frowning redhead as she glared at her and Amity glared right back from within her helmet.

There was another match after this, for whichever one of them won, but this was the only one she needed to concern herself with; beating Boscha for herself and for Luz was all that mattered.

Boscha drew her sword and Amity followed suit, blade raised in the ready position, knees bent and elbows high.

The call sounded and Boscha charged forward, intent to end this as quickly as possible. Amity had no intention of letting that happen and jumped back, carefully avoiding the quick, downward strike by a hair’s breadth and swinging back, but the more experienced witch dodged and rammed her blade into Amity’s chest, knocking the wind out of her. She took a few steps back, trying to right herself but she didn’t have more than a second before another blow hit the side of her helmet and sent her reeling to the ground. She shook it off quickly as she could and rolled out of the way, even as her head spun, knowing another attack was coming and sure enough, she heard the sound of Boscha’s blade hitting the ground where she had been laying.

She scrambled to her feet just as the three-eyed witch charged her again and Amity jumped back, avoiding the wild swing and whipping her own blade up in a quick arc of flashing steel.

Boscha jerked her blade back, catching Amity’s in the guard and holding it as she tried to shove her back. Amity grunted, digging her foot in and holding, if only barely.

Boscha was a lot stronger and it was becoming more and more apparent as Amity began to slide back under the force, her arms cramped under the crushing force being pushed down on her. She was suddenly reminded of the first time she and Luz had ever sparred and smirked inside her helmet and jerked back, freeing her blade from Boscha’s and letting the witch go stumbling past with the power of her own force sending her rocketing forward with nothing there to stop her.

Amity turned and rammed the pommel of her sword into the back of the knight’s head, sending her crashing to the ground in a heap of metal. She felt a sick sense of glee at sending the arrogant noble careening face-first to the ground, especially after everything she had said and threatened her and Luz with.

She certainly wasn’t upset to see the other witch in pain. Especially not as her own head throbbed.

Before she could rush forward and continue her assault, the other night pressed a hand to her blade and fire blazed to life across the blade and she jerked around from her place on the ground and swung haphazardly, sending an arc of fire blazing through the air straight at her. Amity clenched her eyes shut, turning her shoulder to the blast where it bounced off the fire dragon scales embedded into her armor and negated the majority of the heat.

It did give the other knight enough time to climb back to her feet, scowling furiously at her. Amity glared back, pressing her hand to her sword and willing her magic into it. Silent wind whipped into being around the blade and she hiked it higher into the air, a silent challenge. Boscha snarled and swung again just as Amity did and sent a blast of wind whipping through the air and sending the fire careening back toward the three-eyed witch, who let out a loud pained sound as the dissipating flames smacked her in the face.

Amity dashed forward, ramming herself into Boscha at full speed and sending her crashing back to the ground in a jarring clatter of metal. Boscha looked up just as the tip of a sword was pressed to her throat.

Amity panted inside her helmet as she shoved the tip of her blade against Boscha’s neck. The witch so much as twitched and she shoved harder, blood beading up on the blade as it bit into the tender flesh of her throat.

“Yield…,” Amity growled out, glaring down at her forced betrothed.

Boscha only glared back at her balefully and Amity’s grip on the hilt tightened, muscles tensing as she prepared to shove the blade straight through her. She wasn’t going to be trapped in wedlock to the vile noble in front of her for the rest of her life. If she wanted to force her hand, then so be it.

She tensed, arms twitching.

“I yield,” Boscha barked but never stopped glaring at her. Amity hesitated, not removing her blade for a long second as everything stilled into a tense silence.

“Is she…” Emira sat on the edge of her seat as her sister held her blade to Boscha’s throat.

“I wouldn’t put it past her,” Edric mumbled, leaning forward.

Luz watched on bated breath as she watched with Eda and Viney at her side. The healer had managed to mend her broken rib but it was still quite tender and hurt to breathe too deeply.

She wasn’t sure which way she wanted it to go, so she waited.

Amity pressed harder and found a depraved sort of glee in the fear that entered Boscha’s eyes, vengeance for the hell she had put her and Luz through in the last few months.

“Your betrothed’s hand is mine,” she grunted and Boscha scowled further but Amity made no other move, waiting.

“On my word, Amity Blight is yours to do whatever the hell you want with,” she spat out for all to hear at last.

Finally, she pulled the blade away and took a step back. It would have been easy, but as much as she hated the witch at her feet, she was better than that and she had, if nothing else, respected Luz’s yield when she could have killed her; Amity would do the same.

She was still staring down at Boscha when she whipped off her helmet and the redhead's eyes widened.

“Then I’m not marrying you…” she frowned as the referee declared her the winner.

The crowd roared and the twins jumped up screaming and hugging each other.

“She did it… she did it!” Luz jumped, shaking Eda while Viney laughed at the knight.

“Yeah, yeah she did it, now stop with the damn shaking!” Eda yelled as Luz rattled her around.

Amity turned to walk away and Boscha watched her for a second, the shock wearing off and her face twisted up into a rage.

The next moment was a flurry of movement as Boscha grabbed her discarded sword and jumped up, rushing at the other witch's turned back.

“Amity!” several voices called and she turned, instinct kicking in just in time to jump back and avoid the strike. Her sword whipped overhead before slamming down and with a scream, rent Boscha’s hand from her arm.

The sword crashed to the ground, severed hand still attached to it in a splatter of blood.

Boscha tumbled to the ground, clutching to her stump of a wrist as blood poured out onto the ground.

“That dirty bit-…!” Luz snarled and tried to run out to the arena but Eda and Viney held her back.

“Let the officials deal with it!” Viney said as they held the knight back. Sure enough, it didn’t take but a moment for several people wearing the white and gold cloaks of the Emperor’s men to swarm the arena and Luz waited, foot tapping impatiently as she waited for whatever was being said in the arena to come to an end.

Eventually, it did and the white-cloaked guards walked off with the still bleeding knight and Amity hurried off the arena floor.

This time, Eda and Viney didn’t stop her as she hurried across the field and barreled into Amity full tilt, scooping her up in her arms, heedless of their injuries.

“Luz!” the witch laughed as she was lifted off her feet in a crushing hug.

“You did it!” Luz was practically screaming in her ear but she had a hard time being mad at her as the human knight pressed her face into her hair and swung her around.

Finally, Luz sat her down, and before she could stop her, Luz was pressing a hard kiss to her mouth. She laughed into it, Luz’s palpable joy was infectious.

“You were amazing!” Luz’s grin nearly split her face when she pulled back to look at her.

“I’d have never been here without you…” Amity smiled at her, curling her fingers into the knight’s tunic as she held her close.

“Eh, I just taught you the basics, I’m sure you learned more from Lilith…,” she started but Amity shook her head.

“Not that, but yes. No, I mean… free, Luz. Without you, I don’t think I ever would have bothered fighting so hard to free myself from all this, from my parent’s, and a life I never wanted to start with…,” she said quietly, looking up at the knight with such adoration that it made Luz flush.

“Oh… well… I didn’t really do anything…” Luz shrugged helplessly and Amity just smiled up at her.

“You did more than you know,” Amity mumbled, pressing her forehead to hers.

“This is all very touching, but you won the match, which means you’ll be fighting the final fight in a few moments, Amity.”

They looked up as Lilith approached them.

“That’s right! You could win the whole tourney!” Luz pulled back to look at her.

“I think I've had my fill of fighting for one day…,” Amity trailed off.

“There's no sense not to try, you’ve made it this far,” Lilith told her and Luz nodded in rapid agreement.

She looked between them for a moment before nodding.

“Alright.”

A few minutes later when they called for her to come back to the arena, Luz wished her luck and watched as she faced off with the final knight standing between them and the end of this.

~ ~ ~

“Just be careful and don’t get into too many fights,” Emira cautioned as they stood outside Viney’s shop, packing the rest of their stuff into their horses' saddlebags.

“I won't…,” Amity promised but glanced over at Luz who stopped what she was doing to press a hand to her chest.

“I would never!” she huffed, making both sisters roll their eyes.

“Yeah you would,” Eda snorted from her place leaned against the wall of the shop, arms folded over her chest. Luz shot her a look and she just grinned back.

“I can’t believe you’re leaving,” Edric whined, bottom lip trembling.

“It’s not like we're never coming back,” Amity rolled her eyes even as she wrapped her arms around her brother, who sniffled into her hair as he squeezed her.

“Yeah, we’re just gonna roam around until things die down a little with your parents and all that…,” Luz said as she finished tying her things down and walked over to them.

“Don’t count on that ever happening,” Emira snorted and Viney chuckled, nudging her. The eldest Blight daughter flushed but smiled.

“We’ll be back by summer, Luz wants to check out some places where there used to be human villages according to that book I gave her,” Amity told them.

“I’m sure you’ll have plenty of stories to tell us when you get back.” Willow smiled at the two and Gus nodded eagerly.

“Bring back any human artifacts you find!” He grinned and Luz chuckled.

“Will do, Gus.” she nodded.

“You’d best head out before it gets too late,” Lilith hummed, looking up at the sky. Amity nodded at that. It was already well into the afternoon.

“Yeah, got a marriage to consummate still,” Eda cackled as the two turned bright red.

“We're leaving!” Amity turned on heel and stomped over to her horse.

“Bye Mittens!” Emira called.

“Bring us back something fun!” Edric joined in.

Luz hurried over to Eda and wrapped her arms around the older knight, who couldn’t help but grin and pat her back.

“Take care, Kid, I’ll be hanging around when you get back.”

“Thanks, Eda, see you soon!” She turned and trotted over to Singe and pulled herself up into the saddle.

“Bring me back any interesting monster bits you find while you’re away, I’ll see what I can't turn them into,” Viney called with a lazy wave.

“We’ll keep our eyes out, Viney!” she called as they rode off toward the gates of Bonesburough with King trotting along at their side.

“We’re off on our next adventure!” Luz grinned over at her wife, the smile nearly splitting her face and Amity chuckled to herself as she smiled back, catching some of Luz’s enthusiasm the farther they traveled from town.

“How long do you think it will take us to get there?” she asked and Luz pulled out the map and studied it thoughtfully.

“Probably tomorrow morning but there's a smaller town we should reach in a few hours where we can stay tonight.” She looked up and Amity nodded.

“We can train too and maybe you’ll win your next tourney!” Luz perked and Amity laughed. Maybe she had lost the last round of the tourney to a much more experienced knight, but she had accomplished everything she’d set out to do. She couldn't find much to complain about. Even if her parents had had a near conniption when she abandoned the family name to marry Luz the day after.

“I think I’ll leave the tournaments to you, but I’m always happy to train with you, Luz,” she said and the knight grinned.

Luz chatted excitedly the whole way to the village.

It wasn’t a huge town but it had a decently bustling market, even for this time of day, which they leisurely explored with King after getting a room at the inn.

Amity was busy inspecting a stall selling daggers as Luz looked around before letting her eyes settle on the former noble, or rather the sparkling trinket pinned in her hair, and felt her heart swell with a joy that was hard to put into words as she reached up to toy with the pink shell Viney had kindly pierced a hole through so she could wear it around her neck.

Her own little symbol of her commitment to the witch at her side.

Things had been such a whirlwind the last couple of days, it felt strange to just be standing here in the middle of a village marketplace, casually browsing the wares for sale with the dull humming background of people going on around them.

She couldn't imagine herself ever being happier.

Amity looked up and caught her stare.

“What?” she asked, brow cocked curiously and Luz shook her head.

“Nothing, just thinking.” She shrugged and Amity smiled.

“That’s dangerous,” Amity quipped and Luz scoffed but the grin on her lips betrayed her.

“You bout done here? I’m starving,” she asked and Amity nodded, stepping away from the stall.

“Yes, let’s head back.” She nodded and Luz turned, glancing around.

“Hey, where’s King?” she asked, looking around frantically.

The great wolf demon chose that moment to trot back up to them, something hanging out of his mouth, Luz blinked.

“What is that?”

The wolf looked up at her, and hanging from his mouth was a large ham.

“Where did you get that!?” She reached to grab it but he jerked his head out of reach and Luz growled as she followed, trying to jerk the meat out of his mouth. King growled and ran in the opposite direction.

“King! Where did you steal that ham from!?” Luz shouted, chasing the beast down the street of the market as he chewed faster before finally tackling him and wrestling him for possession of it. “You didn’t pay for that!” Luz growled as she yanked on the hunk of meat while King growled back at her.

Amity sighed as she watched her wife and the demon wolf roll around in the street, yelling and growling at each other as they fought over cured pork; concerned-looking townspeople walked around them. She trailed after them tiredly.

She couldn’t think of anywhere else she’d rather be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp, it's finally done.  
> As always it has been my great pleasure.


End file.
